Instant Alarm - Security Tip

An email I got from my grandmother today but it's a good tip:

Car Key Tip
Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you
hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to
get in your house, just press the panic button for
your car. The alarm will be set off and the horn will
continue to sound until either you turn it off or the
car battery dies.
This tip came from a neighborhood watch
coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and
you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a
security alarm system that you probably already have
and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off
from most everywhere inside your house and will keep
honking until your battery runs down or until you
reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It
works if you park in your driveway or garage.
If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying
to break in your house, odds are the burglar or rapist
won't stick around.... after a few seconds all the
neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who
is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want
that.
And, remember to carry your keys while walking to
your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same
way there.....
This is something that should really be shared
with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual
abuse crime.

Suspicious Truck in Alley

I just got a call from a resident that lives in the 9000 block of Santa Clara (between Ocalla and Oldgate).
She was home briefly and saw a small Nissan red pick up truck driving slowly through the alley. This alley is seldom used so she knew it was odd. She saw that there was a Hispanic man driving the truck and she began to follow him - he took off through the alley and was gone quickly. It is very possible that he was casing the houses.

His plates:

88Z YH1

Keep an eye out!

Alarm Company in the Neighborhood

From a neighbor:

All,

Tonight, I just received a fairly hard sell from a door-to-door salesman
from APX Alarms. He mentioned that he had just upgraded Kay McKinney to
a new alarm system, the gentleman that his house burned down several months
ago and someone else who I don't recall now. I told him I'd have to
think about it until tomorrow, which he didn't like, and at first he
said all of the free equipment and installation packages would be gone
by then. Then, he asked if he could come back tomorrow even though he
only had two left to give away (sounded suspicious to me).

After he left I came in and looked on the Internet for www.APX.com which
he said was their Internet address, it's not. I Goggled APX and found
the link below that you may be interested in. I think I'll take my
business elsewhere.

http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/article.jsp?id=8931&siteSection
=302

Regards,
Doug

As an additional note I didn't appreciate the some of the salesman's
questions. I thought several of them were out of line. Such as:

I'm sure you keep a pistol or some kind of a gun in your house, don't
you?
When you leave your house do you leave your dogs in the house or put
them outside?
Can I come inside an evaluate your house? Multiple times he asked.
You always keep your windows locked, don't you?

I just thought it was worth noting based on the link, one of several on
the Internet regarding APX.

************************************************

SOME PEOPLE HAVE WRITTEN ME SINCE I POSTED THIS AND THOUGHT THEY WERE LEGIT BUT THOUGHT THEY WERE OUT OF LINE BY THE HARD SALES TACTICS AND QUESTIONS. BE FIRM AND TELL THEM THAT THEY ARE OUT OF LINE AND ASK THEM TO LEAVE IF THEY MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE.

clayton

Susan's neighbor --- Friday (yesterday)

Susan called again this afternoon to tell me that her neighbor had caught 3 kids trying to get into a backyard next door. They were 16 or so - all bald headed. One hispanic and two white kids. Susan's neighbor confronted the kids and told them that he's home all the time and to LEAVE. They tried to say that they were looking for their dog.

I talked to the guys that work at the liquor store on the spillway this afternoon - they told me that they heard that a few of the banks at Casa Linda had been robbed as well.

I worked in Social Services for 5 years and when the nice weather hit, we had an influx of problems with people. One reason being that people drink/use drugs more when the weather changes.

Thanks for being on the lookout!

Weird guy approached Susan Remele's home today

Susan Remele called me and said that she was home this morning with other people in her home (3 cars out front) and a hispanic guy in a blue beat-up car walked up her driveway. She asked him what he wanted and he asked if her house was for sale. Very sketchy and there is no 'for sale' sign in the yard.

She wrote down his license plate and called the police.

The blue car in question:

082PWJ


Thanks Susan!

Our Postman

I talked to our postman yesterday. He said that he knew Forest Hills is having similar problems. He told me that about 2 weeks ago they spotted a man in an alley way checking out a house. The police were called and they ended up arresting him on drunk driving. The postman thought that he might have also been in a blue sedan.

I'm going to see if a detective can confirm this, maybe I can look at the mugshot and see if it looks like the man I saw.

BTW, we have the same postman for the whole LFH area. He's keeping his eyes open for us.

Crime Stats found for Forest Hills and Little Forest Hills

2/04 82XX Forest Hills motorbike stolen FH
3/20 82xx San Fernando bicycles stolen FH
3/22 88XX Santa Clara televisions
3/28 83XX San Cristobal vandalism of residence FH
3/30 8600 Redondo burglary of a residence LHF
4/02 8366 Santa Clara burglary FH
4/02 87xx Diceman vandalism of residence LFH
4/13 81xx San Fernando theft FH
4/20 86xx Santa Clara burglary of a residence LFH
4/23 88xx San Leandro theft LFH
4/25 83xx Forest Hills burglary of an attached garage FH
5/04 86xx Santa Clara burglary of a residence LFH

Thank you, Susan Remele for providing this information.

Message from Redondo Resident

I just received this in an email after our meeting today....

I live on Redondo Drive (near Oldgate and Santa Clara). On the 24th of April (07), my wife was sitting on our back deck with my mother-n-law, and witnessed two black men in a tattered looking earlier model pick-up truck trolling the alley slowly. One of the men, ( youngish, stocky, medium height) hopped out the truck and jumped the back fence of our neighbor's property, and attempted to take a small grill (looked like it was copper). He probably didn't see my wife due to the thick brush. She yelled at him, and he quickly dropped it and ran. He jumped back into the truck which drove a way very fast. She couldn't get the plate number, but did call the police to report it.

Crime Watch Emergency Meeting Today 5/6

Thank you for those that made it by today - we had almost 30 people. Hopefully that's enough to get the word out.

I wanted to mention to you guys that you should be writing down serial numbers to your computers, tv's, cameras, etc. If you do ever have to experience a robbery - the police will be able to keep an eye on the pawn shops. It's better to have all of that info in order to catch someone!

Clayton

Important about suspect Info 5/6/07

This is an email to Christie Turner regarding the emails that are getting around...


Hi Christie,
FYI three of us saw a suspicious man matching this description today at a garage sale on Diceman. We hadn't seen the flier yet, so we didn't do anything at the time. I will try to make it to the meeting tomorrow to see where I can help.
We all got a good look at him and he genuinely seemed to be scoping out everything in the yard and the house where the garage sale was . He didn't buy anything but a packet of chips and a drink after spending a really long time there. Two of us got weird vibes. Plus he stared at the house as he drove away (in what I think was a royal blue (smurf color ;) Chrysler four door car, mid 90's model - but would have to look at some kind of car book to pick out what kind it was). He was a fair-complected Hispanic man with short, buzz cut hair. Slightly built, 5'9 or 5'10.
Anyhow, you can pass this on to whoever would be interested, (since the flier we have didn't leave a contact number).
Thanks much!

Another Break In 5/4/07

There was ANOTHER residential burglary on Santa Clara .

Please print out and share this information with your neighbors:
we're trying to reach everyone this weekend!

Emergency Crimewatch Meeting:
8934 SANTA CLARA
SUNDAY, MAY 6
2:00PM

EMERGENCY CRIME NOTICE!!! BREAK-INS ON SANTA CLARA

RECENTLY, 3 HOMES ON SANTA CLARA HAVE BEEN BROKEN INTO WITHIN AN HOUR
OF THE RESIDENTS LEAVING WHICH SUGGESTS THAT THE CRIMINALS ARE
WATCHING US COME AND GO.

ONE BREAK-IN OCCURRED LAST SATURDAY MORNING (3/31) -- ANOTHER
HAPPENED FRIDAY (5/4) IN THE AFTERNOON

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED AND WANT TO GET INVOLVED, AN EMERGENCY MEETING
WILL BE HELD IN CLAYTON WRIGHT'S FRONT YARD (8934 SANTA CLARA) ON
SUNDAY, MAY 6, AT 2PM TO DISCUSS FORMING EMERGENCY PATROLS ON SANTA
CLARA

THE CRIMINAL ON FRIDAY 5/5/07 WAS A HISPANIC MALE IN HIS 40'S DRIVING
A BLUE SEDAN.

CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY IF YOU SEE THIS MAN OR CAR OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT
LOOKS SUSPICIOUS!!

Break-in News from 4/28/07

Below is the email sent out by the LFH Neighborhood Association.

Dear LFH:

I have been requested to inform you just in case these suspicious
persons have targeted our neighborhood.

If you see suspicious activity, please CALL 911!

Someone's house on Santa Clara was broken into on April 20 during the
day when the resident had only been gone for 2 1/2 hours that morning.
Entry was from the back alley - kitchen door was forced open with a
tool at the door jam and the lock area of the door was completely
splintered and damaged. Because of what they took, they seem to be
unsophisticated young people - high school age?

On April 28th - this same resident was sitting on the front porch
reading a book and a car screeched to a halt across the street just
one house down and two young males exited the car and were yelling at
each other "how much did you get?" they were both reaching into their
front pants pockets and taking out cash bills and counting them. one
black male 16-17 approx. 6'2" 140ish lbs. and the hispanic male -
5"7", tattoo left upper arm, lots of gold chains, clean cut hair,
about 120-130 lbs.

In the car were two girls (one black female-one hispanic female) (one
girl was wearing a hood which she took down as she was sitting there)
sitting in the back seat to open the trunk.

The driver took off his tennis shoes - changed his socks from white to
yellow - put his shoes back on and then got back in the car and sped
away - throwing things out the window as he pulled away from the
curb.

Description of the vehicle - old model beat up honda sedan - four door
- dark turquiose color - dull paint job - very large single dent in
the passenger door on the drivers side - no hub caps.