Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Community Outreach - LQ Police




This past Thursday evening, some of La Quinta’s finest hosted a seminar on crime prevention. In fact, we were informed that we not only have a Crime Prevention Team but they are strictly charged with this area of concern unless a special situation should arise requiring their assistance in a backup roll. This is a nice change from tougher times in the past where this manpower was not available for the specified area of concern.

This team is comprised of Officer Aceves and Munoz who head up the Team which includes Special Enforcement Officers Ramirez and Martinez (Cove) plus Officer Lindewall (No.LQ) and Officer Worden (Central LQ).
Officer Aceves opened the meeting by sharing some videos followed by the Special Enforcement Officers sharing some great tips for keeping ourselves, our property and that of our neighbors as safe as possible. The Officers also answered specific questions for some residents in attendance; in addition, a number of residents shared some good thoughts of their own
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Besides the City’s presence on NextDoor, we learned that the Department has a Facebook Account:  https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=la%20quinta%20ca%20police%20department ; and they have a great web page to obtain information, report suspicious activity and/or crimes:  http://www.laquintapolice.org/Crime-Prevention From this page that teems with information, you can reach other pages so spend a few minutes one day and familiarize yourself. In addition, take a moment to make a note of the Non-emergency number. Obviously, you are able to determine what an emergency is for calling 911 but reporting a suspicious character or situation should be done via the non-emergency number. Office Aceves also pointed out that we can check crime reported in the recent but not immediate past by the following web page:   https://www.crimereports.com/
 
A real tangible item of importance that comes to memory is the importance of writing down facts or taking photos, when possible, prior to calling in or texting about the  suspicious activity to give the officers some help in performing their duties such as:  what you saw, how many people you saw, what were they wearing; what were they carrying; what direction did they go in; were there any cars involved, how many cars, what color/make/model  and , of course, anything else you can remember …

It is apparent that this team is working diligently to protect us and our property. We can assist them and help ourselves by being aware, especially in the absence of a true Neighborhood Watch which are difficult to start and maintain in our areas where more snowbirds and second homeowners reside. Many people are just too busy to get involved … the answer is let NextDoor be your Neighborhood Watch and contribute by: letting you neighbor know they left the garage door open, checking out what the dog is barking at (they don’t bark just to bark), checking out that strange car parked outside, checking out the stranger walking the neighborhood after being dropped off …

Take a moment and be thankful for the Special Enforcement Team that advised us to be diligent, keep our eyes open and don’t be afraid to call the non-emergency number 760-836-3215 Ext #5 or go online to report the aforementioned areas of concern along with all other oddities that may arise. Finally, remember that the Team offered to set an appointment to check your home’s safety features and discuss/recommend alterations to make you more safe. You can call Office Munoz direct at (760) 863-8990.

Be safe in the New Year !!!

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