My neighbour was out walking his dog, recently. We got talking and he asked me if I generally locked the doors on the family cars in the driveway overnight. I asked why. He said early one morning, recently, he opened his front door to let the dog out and saw several young people pulling on car doors across the street, testing to see if any of the cars had been left unlocked. I asked if the kids knew he was watching them.
“Sure,” he said. “I called out to them, and they stopped in their tracks.”
I should point out that my neighbour’s dog also noticed the youngsters fiddling with the car doors too. But my neighbour didn’t send his dog chasing after the intruders (although she might have licked them to death). He had a more valuable tool in his crime-fighting kit.
If it wasn’t already obvious, the media have gone crazy on the coverage of crime. News reporters used to say, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Even my beloved CBC Radio has decided that its loyal listeners crave more information about shootings, stabbings and thefts than almost anything else. (Back in the 1980s and ’90s, when I still regularly broadcast news and current affairs, the CBC brass consulted marketing gurus to predict what listeners wanted most in the future. Crime and traffic, they said. The marketers, I should add, were based in Chicago.)
In other words, if we’re conditioned to believe crime is escalating, it’s just a short step from coverage to fear, and dare I say it, vigilantism.
Emphasis on crime, whether we believe it’s getting worse or not, has hit local media too. In July alone, one local newspaper dedicated a lot of time and space to crime. They regularly report on unsolved crimes, arrests or court proceedings. Fine. That’s part of a journalist’s job. But they’ve also run at least one July feature on video surveillance. Also, fine.
But the story quotes a detective who says he’d be hard-pressed to find any situation in which video surveillance wouldn’t be of assistance. The story backs up the detective’s assertion; it says police have solved almost 64 per cent of North Durham (Ontario) break-ins in 2019, and claim it would be higher if more people/businesses invested in such electronic surveillance.
OK, but what if the first thing a potential burglar attacks is the power to your home? So much for your video surveillance. I’m a firm believer in prevention, but my idea of prevention doesn’t involve cameras, motion sensors or other expensive equipment; money cannot buy fail-safe protection. I remember when Neighbourhood Watch programs came along in the 1960s and ’70s.
On our block in Edmonton we all agreed – once each resident was cleared to participate – we all posted Neighbourhood Watch signs in windows. The program helped our kids understand – without hysteria or expense – how/where they could seek help from caring households on our street. It also informed some of us – beyond next-door – who our neighbours actually were. They were faces, personalities and concerned parents, not robotics recording for the police to review later, what was happening on our street.
In other words, just like the historical origin of Neighbourhood Watch, recommended by such extraordinary community builders as Jane Jacobs, what is needed to protect a community are average, everyday citizens who become the “eyes on streets” and help stitch communities together when neighbours get to know neighbours. The phenomenon of Neighbourhood Watch was never intended to replace law enforcement.
There will be those who claim “eyes on streets” thinking precipitated the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012, because George Zimmerman, an appointed neighbourhood watch co-ordinator claimed he shot Martin in self-defence. As with many other things in America, problems spiral out of control when people introduce guns.
Oh yes. You’re probably wondering how my neighbour dealt with those kids prowling around the parked cars on our street.
Well, my neighbour, among many things, is quick on his feet. He made no attempt to chase the youngsters down. He didn’t sic his dog on them. He employed a more valuable defensive tool than that.
“I know who you are,” he called out to the boys. And even if he didn’t actually know who they were (as I say, my neighbour’s quick on his feet), the kids were gone in a flash. And you can bet each of them was looking over his shoulder for the rest of the week. Maybe now all the time. In other words, the potential of being caught, or at least outed as a thief could be this community’s strongest defence. So, sure, get the expensive electronic surveillance equipment if it’ll help you sleep more soundly or reassure you when you’re on vacation.
But ultimately, knowledge and awareness among neighbours may be the best weapons in a community’s anti-crime arsenal.
