Soccer Dad

Midnight Patrol

In Baltimore we have a citizen's patrol. In the area covered by the patrol the crime rate is significantly lower than in surrounding jurisdictions. But lately there has been a rash of break-ins and burglaries.

In response, about 2 weeks ago, the brothers who run Tov Pizza started a later patrol. Most nights, for the past 2 weeks 12 - 15 men have been covering the times of 11PM to 5AM and supplement the police.

The Baltimore Jewish Times reports:

For many recent nights, Avi Rosenbluth hasn't gotten a great deal of sleep. He'll tell you in a second, though, that it's been worth it. As of last Tuesday, Sept. 27, at least three suspects in the robberies had been picked up, largely through the observations of the volunteer group, which Avi Rosenbluth refers to as the "Shomrim," or watchers.

The detective said that, by and large, the robberies involved less breaking and more entering. The detective urged victims to call 911 and file a police report. "It's the open windows, the unlocked doors and the unarmed burglar alarms that are being hit," he said. "We're not seeing broken glass. They want quick cash."

I've heard that the word on the street is that (Orthodox) Jewish houses keep a lot of money (pushkas) accessible. Hopefully the word on the street will get out that Orthodox Jews are watching out.

We saw a nice report on WJZ TV before Shabbos. (On the right hand side is a link to the full report.)

There have been some encounters between the burglars and residents. From the Baltimore Jewish Times:

Rabbi Menachem Pheterson was half asleep in his study 2 a.m. last Monday when he heard a sound coming from the kitchen. He walked in only to find an intruder there, who said he had a gun.

"I said, "Don't shoot, just take what you want,'" he said. "He said he wanted cash. I gave him the cash, and he told me to lay on the floor. I waited for 10 seconds, looked up and he was gone. He left the front door open."

The man broke a back porch screen and then climbed in an unlocked kitchen window.

"When he left, I felt so grateful to be alive," said Rabbi Pheterson.

"I find myself much calmer than anyone thinks I should be," he said. "When he left, I didn't wake my wife or children. I just went to sleep."

I know how he felt. But I wouldn't (wasn't) so calm after a similar experience.

And a slightly different experience:

On one of the few actual confrontations between a suspect and victim, the victim turned the intruder into the victim.

It was 11:15 Friday night. All the lights were on in Karl and Chava Goodman's home. They were asleep, but their 22-year-old son, Ariel, came face to face with an intruder in the hallway outside of a bedroom. He had gotten in through a kitchen window.

Ariel punched the guy in the face, tackled him and punched him again. The criminal got away, but was picked up by police a couple of days later.

(That would be Tamir's brother ...)

Two nights later that suspect was wandering the streets about 1AM when one of the patrols spotted him. Within 10 minutes he was in police custody.

Posted by SoccerDad at October 2, 2005 5:46 AM