"We were watching" and we meant it !!!!

An effort was made to kick-start the ol' Neighborhood Watch commencing in Feb '09. We've had some mailings, we've had some meetings and we had some signs made. Things were really starting to look up. Residents started taking notice, relating information about past efforts and showing keen interest in doing something to make this a better place to be for all of us; however, the crimes didn't seem to go diminish and things started to turn bleak when the new signs started disappearing. First one at a time and after a while two at a time... until one night someone took them all.... Disgruntled Resident, Kids or Sign Nazis?? What the heck is going on?? Well, it took some time for the most recent batch of signs to be made and they were finally replaced almost 2 weeks in the same areas as previously placed, where they remained for a few days until the culprit realized that there was space on their wall that was not yet covered... Again they acted, taking 3 of the 6 and mangling the 4th. It was during this 'mangling' action that one of our well-read and prepared residents witnessed the event, wrote down the license number of the car plus description of the perpetrator and reported it to La Quinta's finest. The perpetrator was identified and an arrest has been made. Hurray for Desert Pride! This is just one small victory but it is a HUGE stepping stone for us all. Keep a pad and pencil handy and another in the glove compartment (Do we still use these?) If you see anything hinky (Something as yet undefinable is wrong, out of place; not quite right), write it down and call the non-emergency number 1-760-836-3215 x5 Tell them what you saw and that you'd like an officer/deputy to investigate it.IT WORKS!! Keep the faith!