About 200 people showed up at a meeting at the Yucca Valley Community Center Monday night to learn how to set up a neighborhood watch. Sheriff’s Service Specialist Melissa Kramer told residents it was up to them to enlist their neighbors in the neighborhood watch, and to decide how to run it. Residents were given information on how to buy and install signs for their neighborhoods. Managing editor Tami Roleff was at the meeting and outlines some of the things residents can do to deter crime in their neighborhoods…
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Russ Wilke told the residents at Monday’s meeting of the neighborhood watch program that residents can be the eyes and ears of deputies. Residents should call 9-1-1 if they see suspicious activity, such as cars driving slowly on residential streets at night without lights on, people removing items from a home, people looking in windows or lurking around homes or businesses, anyone screaming or shouting for help or being forced into a vehicle, or if a stranger stops to talk to a child. Residents were also told to program the Morongo Basin’s Sheriff’s dispatch phone number into their cell phones: 760-956-5001. If you see something suspicious, take note of the suspect’s clothing, height, race, age, direction of travel, vehicle if there is one, and take a photo if you can do so safely. The Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station intends to hold neighborhood watch meetings residents of Twentynine Palms and county areas in the future.
Sheriff’s Service Specialist Melissa Kramer gave residents information about a private social media network, Nextdoor.com, where neighbors can privately share information about their neighborhoods and suspicious activity. Crimemapping.com maps basic information about where crimes have taken place.
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Russ Wilke told those in the attendance that there has been a spike in burglaries over the past six months (with about 180 reported), but when compared to the previous year, the number of burglaries is about the same. Wilke said he will compile the year’s statistics in December and will have a better idea then of whether crime has increased in Yucca Valley and the Morongo Basin.
Wilke added that deputies were as frustrated as residents about seeing the same people arrested over and over again, but said that criminals know that they will be released shortly for misdemeanors. The revolving door is due to changes in laws passed by voters, such as Prop 47, which reduced some crimes for drug possession from felonies to misdemeanors, and reduced the penalties for other minor crimes like petty theft (under $950) and receiving stolen property.
Responding to persistent questions from audience members about what they could do to protect themselves in case they were home during a burglary, Sheriff’s Lieutenant Russ Wilke was diplomatic, telling residents to get out of their home, and to do what they felt was necessary. Finally, Detective Cory Emon addressed the elephant in the room and said residents threatened by a home invasion robbery had to weigh the consequences of their action of shooting an intruder, as they could miss the suspect and hit someone they didn’t intend to shoot, or the bullet could go through the victim and hit someone else. And, he stressed, even justified shootings would be referred to the District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution. Emon concluded by saying, “It’s better to be tried by 12 than to be carried out by six.”
