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Update on this months meeting

Discussion in 'Broadlands Neighborhood Watch' started by Donna F, Jul 19, 2007.

  1. Donna F

    Donna F New Member

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    Neighborhood Watch Update


    I wanted to give you an update on the events and discussions that occurred during this months Neighborhood Watch meeting. I’m glad to say that we had a nice turn out and some good questions. I thought this might be a great time to answer some of the questions that were asked and where we stand on our program and what you can do to help.



    Deputy Jason Leydig, one of our representatives from the sheriffs department did a nice presentation on solicitors and what types of soliciting/peddling is legal and what types of door to door sales are not within the legal boundaries. Following are some definitions from his presentation.



    Soliciting is defined as:
    To canvass or solicit means: traveling from premises to premises or from street to street, taking or attempting to take orders for sale or lease of goods, wares, merchandise or personal property of any nature for future delivery or for service to be furnished or performed at that time or in the future, whether or not such persons carries or exposes for sale a sample of such sale or lease or whether or not he is collecting advance payment on such sales or leases.



    Peddling is defined as:
    To peddle means: traveling from premises to premises or from street to street offering or exposing for sale or lease or making sales or leases of goods, wares or merchandise.



    Who is Exempt?
    Sell or offer for sale ice, wood, charcoal, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, game, vegetables, fruits or other family supplies of a perishable nature or farm products grown or produced by them or their employer and are not purchased by them or by their employer for resale.

    Persons peddling, soliciting or canvassing where all the proceeds derived from such peddling, soliciting or canvassing are to be used solely for nonprofit charitable, religious or community service purposes. Others that are exempt include: newspaper subscriptions or personal services, i.e., Lawn Care…



    All legal solicitors are to be registered with the County and should have a vendor or solicitor ID card. If you ask to see it and they can not present it…close the door.

    If they say they have one but forgot it, inform them that you will take a minute to confirm that with the sheriffs department…most times they will thank you for your time and leave.



    The message was that while most are legitimate, you can’t tell, so to be safe… close your door. If they make you uncomfortable or they are rude call the sheriffs office.



    Why don’t we become a non solicitor community?


    Based on feedback from the sheriffs department, signs can be posted throughout the community that we do not allow solicitors, but those signs do not necessarily deter most of the door to door sales people. Being a non solicitor community does not guarantee a faster response from the sheriff’s office. Being a non solicitor community does not mean that all door to door sales will stop. The suggestion from the sheriff’s office is to call them to notify them of any problems you might experience with solicitors.



    I want to sign up, but don’t have a lot of time to patrol or help, so what can I do?


    While it would be great to have volunteers that could patrol every night for a few hours, we all lead busy lives, so that isn’t something that can be planned out on a calendar…just yet. However, if you do have some time while you are out walking and notice beer cans, drug paraphernalia, graffiti or any type of destruction please let us know so that we can pass that information on to our security company and sheriffs office so that they can include those locations in their patrols.



    We are hoping that as more and more residents get involved that we will be able to create a calendar of who is out patrolling and when people are available.



    What are other communities doing with their Neighborhood Watch?


    We attended the South Riding Neighborhood watch meeting a few weeks ago, and they ask their residents to try to sign up for at least 2 hours a week at whatever time is convenient. They do not have a calendar of who is patrolling on what night as that is too difficult to maintain and schedule. For those residents that want to get involved, they provide a packet of information with important telephone numbers, maps, etc that can be kept in each resident’s car. They provide training with the help of the sheriffs office and stress that everyone who patrols is an observer not an enforcer and that the patrol groups should call the sheriffs office on any event that is deemed unruly or out of place.



    What about getting block captains?



    The idea behind having block captains is to ensure that each street or small area in Broadlands would have a street leader that would attend the Neighborhood Watch meetings and report back to their respective street members. We are very interested in doing this as maintaining a calendar of who is patrolling, etc would be much more manageable. If you are interested in becoming a block captain please let us know.



    What identifies us when we do go out patrolling?


    I have ordered T-shirts that have the Broadlands Logo on them with Neighborhood Watch written in block letters. If you are interested in picking some up to wear as you are out walking please let me know. We are also in the process of laminating signs to be placed in your cars that also identify you as being a part of the Neighborhood watch while you are out driving through the community.



    Why do we need so many identifiers as we are out?



    The more the vandals see Neighborhood watch throughout the community the better our chances are to lessen the vandalism and destruction that is occurring. The vandals will have no idea, when we are out, where we are patrolling and what our cars look like, as it will change everyday and night.





    What about the Security Company we hired?


    Since the hiring of the security company, we have started to see a reduction in the vandalism and destruction to our community and personal property. We have had several of our communities kids involved in different attempts to destroy or vandalize, and word is getting out that we are serious about handling these issues in partnership with the Sheriffs office. If your child is involved in an issue that requires you to be called, please treat these professionals with respect as they are only doing the job they were hired to do. We will continue to treat any destructive behavior as it should be treated…as a crime and we will continue to call the police and will prosecute should that be the appropriate step.



    What will be discussed at the next meeting?


    We will have the security company representatives at our next meeting to answer any questions you may have about what they have seen and how they handle each issue. We are also interested in setting up a self defense class, offering classes to train you on being a certified emergency response team member. If there is any thing you would like to have be included in this program or any additional information you would like to receive please let us know.



    So…bottom line…


    If you walk your dog, ride your bike, jog, or simply sit outside…you are a part of our Neighborhood Watch program. If you notice anything that is out of character for our community or could escalate into something please let us know. Of course, call the police first.





    We look forward to this becoming a very active program, but can only get there with your involvement.





    Thanks
     
  2. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    Nice post, Donna!
     
  3. foodie

    foodie New Member

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    Donna and others--

    We are in full support of your Neighborhood Watch. Glad to see your community is seeing results. Keep up the good work--

    Foodie
     
  4. Silence Dogood99

    Silence Dogood99 New Member

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    Thank you, Donna, for all your hard work! One thing I love about our community is that people are out and about at all hours of the day, walking dogs, walking kids, jogging, riding bikes. I sometimes think this is the best deterrence--when I'm walking on a back trail with my dog every day (usually mid morning after most people have left for work), I see the backs and fronts of hundreds of homes along the way. I've got the Sheriff's Office phone number plugged into my cell phone so I'm a roving neighborhood watcher, I guess!
     
  5. Earl4

    Earl4 New Member

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    Ooops -- guess I shouldn't have called the cops about the guy selling eggs in my neighborhood last week :rolleyes:
     
  6. dbrow

    dbrow Member

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    Who should be notified and by what method? I have seen empty alcohol bottles in my walks and just thrown them in the trash. I would be happy to assist by providing the location if I encounter this type of thing in the future.
     
  7. Donna F

    Donna F New Member

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    First, Thanks for throwing it in the trash, most just walk on by and leave it on the ground. You can either contact me or let Wes at the HOA know. If we are able to figure out where some of this is going on it is a pretty good indication as to where the kids are hanging out and we can add those locations to the patrols. Thanks for helping.
     
  8. broken skull

    broken skull New Member

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    I always see beer cans floating in the creek on the walkway to SW Plaza. Right where that little bridge is.
     
  9. christinaandrob

    christinaandrob New Member

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    I often see them on the path at Boulder Glen too. Unfortunately most of the time it's broken bottles and a bit harder to pick up.
     

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