Armed Robbery, Petty Theft, Home Burglary On The Rise In The Great Recession

Is it me or does it seem like every time you turn on the news or read the paper whether offline or online, that there is always a report on robbery, home invasion burglaries, auto theft, scams and frauds? Over the last 3 years it seems like these crimes that affect hard working Americans are plaguing more and more neighborhoods today.

Living in the suburbs doesn't make you immune to this crime either. If you visit your local Patch.com, there is a Crime Blotter section that lists these crimes on a weekly basis. When you review this section you will note the alarming incidences of robberies at gun point, home invasions, auto thefts, home break ins. The list goes on. This type of crime is not only alarming but results in violence and in many cases murder.

A product of the Great Recession has been that police departments have seen lay offs. Police are understaffed and are not able to respond to these emergencies as swiftly as possible. If you are like me, my main concern is to keep my family safe and enabling my children to live a happy, care-free life is paramount. This type of activity raises anxiety levels in our communities and we as citizens have to roll up our sleeves and take action and become vigilant. I am not proposing that we are vigilantes and fighting crime ourselves, but nowadays police departments have services which you can send anonymous text tips directly to them. This will enable us to empower ourselves and protect ourselves further from criminals. I believe that Neighborhood Crime Watch groups are also a great way to prevent crime and we should have these types of programs in place in our neighborhoods. What other solutions do you think can be implemented so we can be more proactive in crime fighting?

Suburban cops, don't they have anything better to do?

Tweet As my introductory post states, I live in a very affluent, beautiful, and safe suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tri-Valley. For the most part we are not afflicted with much of the more serious crime that areas such as San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose are. Of course, the level of education and the income levels have a lot to do with this. This is a very positive aspect of living here. On the other hand, the negative aspect of living in such a relatively safe place is that cops don't know what the hell to do with themselves! So what better person to pick on than the ordinary law-abiding citizens of this town. Since I have moved here, I have seen at least 5 people that have been traffic stopped by cops. And I haven't been living here for more than a month, so that is a lot of cops stopping drivers. What's worse is that citizens of this town feel like they have to walk around in eggshells or should I say drive around in eggshells. It's crazy but it's true. My husband who has not been stopped by a traffic cop since he was in his teens, came to San Ramon to be stopped by one. He was very nervous when he was stopped because he was going 10 miles over the speed limit. The cop was nice enough to let him go, but now that we have witnessed a lot of speed traps in this city, we don't dare go 5 over the speed limit. So what is the solution to not getting caught speeding in the Tri-Valley? Well, the number one solution of course is to drive the speed limit. For some this is easier than for others. As for me, well, I drive a smaller sedan so this is not a problem. I am not a speed freak anyways. There are also some fabulous apps that you can download which actually warn you of impending law enforcement. A couple that I know off the top of my head are Trapster and Cop Radar. And best of all they are free to download. I am sure there are other useful apps that can help to pinpoint where the local smokies are hiding but until then my best advice is to drive at the speed limit. Easier said than done.