INTERESTING REPORT ON NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH MEETING

Neighborhood Watch Program

Wednesday February 16th at 7 PM in the Elementary Gym at B.F.A. Fairfax concerned residents gathered for a second “Neighborhood Watch” meeting. The falling snow and slippery roads limited the turn out. There were however some new faces who had come to get involved. Deputy Tom Billow from the Franklin County Sheriff’s office donated his time off the clock to come speak to the group. He has nearly 30 years experience in law enforcement. The meeting was open to all residents and surrounding communities. There were fliers posted in local business establishments, at B.F.A. Fairfax School, as well as information in The Fairfax News, and on line at Chris Santee’s site and Henry Raymond’s site.

   Deputy Billow broke down Neighborhood Watch basically as being a “nosey neighbor”. This is a good thing! Looking out for each other is what it is all about. It can be a slow process to develop a good supportive neighborhood. It is a matter of communicating with your neighbors and creating smaller groups or a “grid” to break down areas. The thought is the information in these meetings will be spread in your neighborhood and everyone will take initiative to talk with each other and authorities. The goal is to have “sections” or groups of neighbors share their information with a “block captain”. Communicate through email or by phone when you will be away. If you see anything suspicious it is never too trivial to report in to the Sheriff’s Department, the State Police or even better – both. If they do get information and later find out a home had been targeted, they can use the information to help solve the crime. For example if a strange vehicle or person was seen at a house on a particular day and time and you have a description or a plate number, this is an incredible help. Reporting unusual situations is never too trivial.

Deputy Billow set us up unknowingly with a confrontation with a woman. She was very angry and spoke rudely to him when she entered the gym where we were meeting. We were so stunned by her behavior when he asked us for a description of her after she left, it took us all several moments to gather our thoughts. This was quite an exercise in remembering a description of a person….since he told us after it was his wife!!

   Have a plan for your children when they come home to a strange car or person in the driveway – where will they go? What will they do? Talk to your children about answering the door or questions of strangers. Teach them not to give out too much information to strangers.

There was a “home invasion” in Milton February 13 about 10:30 PM on Shirley Avenue. There may be a connection between the invaders and the homeowners who were present during the break in. Milton police are looking for any information about the incident. This was quite a disturbing incident to hear about. It was in the paper and on the news Monday.

2004 was a very busy year with 24 actual break ins were reported to the Sheriff’s Office or the State Police just here in Fairfax! October and November were the busiest months. Things have settled down but this is no cause to loose vigilance. Progress is being made with names, vehicles and arrests. But these thieves start out in smaller groups which grow into larger gangs. Often these break ins are drug money motivated.

Other figures for activity while here on contract in Fairfax in 2004 from the Sheriff’s Department include:

·   Every 37 hours there was a physical arrest made.

·   Every 7.7 hours they responded to a call of some type.

·   Every 5.2 hours a ticket was written.

·   $28,900+ in fines written in the year 2004 in Fairfax alone.

If the Franklin County Sheriff’s department does not get the contract for 2005 with Fairfax, they will not be able to respond to the Fairfax area as they only cover areas where they are working under contract. Fairfax would have to call the State Police for response.

When we vote please read carefully as it may be deceiving. The vote will refer to a guaranteed 48 hours of coverage in Fairfax & Georgia combined.

   Should you see something suspicious report it immediately by dialing “911”, calling the Sheriff’s Department at 524-2121, or calling the State Police at 524-5993.

Here in Fairfax contact our local Constable Kevin Campbell at 849-6665 at his shop, 849-2937 at home or 324-1154 on his cell phone.

   Try to get good identification – the person’s approximate age, height, weight, race, gender, hair, did they limp or have any tattoos or scars, clothing, make of a car, color of vehicle, plate number, direction they traveled in.

   We are thinking about another public meeting in May before school lets out. With more time on hand in the summer we would like to prevent break ins before they occur. Deputy Billow has again offered to volunteer his time to meet with us in May. He is very happy the town citizens are getting involved. He brings us up to date and answers all of our questions. He also has many very informative handouts on how to protect your home and things to look for when reporting suspicious activity.

   We hope you all get involved. If you have any questions or want to learn more about our area Neighborhood Watch, please contact Linda Corey at 849-2963.