Preventing Crime in Our Neighborhood – Report Suspicious Activity
There are crimes that could have been stopped sooner if neighbors had reported suspicious activity to police. Instead, a fear of retaliation was given as the excuse for not reporting suspicious activity to police. Reports of suspicious activity can be made anonymously!
One of the most important roles you have as a member of our community is to report suspicious activity.
How do you determine what is suspicious activity? A suspicious activity is when a persons’ conduct or actions does not fit the normal day-to-day activity of a neighborhood or is an occurrence that is out of place and should not be happening in a neighborhood.
REMEMBER, if you observe something unusual or think something looks wrong, report it. DON’T HESITATE TO CALL POLICE! FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCT! You will not get in trouble with the police and you will be doing a service to your community!
Consider the following activities as suspicious and call the police:
- A person or vehicle stays in the same place for an unusual length of time
- A parked car with the engine running – regardless of a person inside or not
- A person behaves strangely or exhibits unusual movements, looks out of place, or is wandering aimlessly
- A person concealing an object, carrying a weapon or suspicious bag
- A person looking into cars, moving from car to car, and or trying door handles
- A person looking into windows of homes, or forcibly entering a car or home
- A person running from a home for no apparent reason – especially at night
- A person selling/conducting business out of their car, van, truck or other vehicle
- A person leaving a neighbor’s house who isn’t the neighbor or someone you recognize
Many activities can be considered suspicious and there could be reasonable explanations for some suspicious activities. By thinking things through, being observant and using common sense, you will be able to make a good judgment about whether an activity is suspicious.