 Up Against the Wall
Crime: Why should we just "grin and bear it"?
by Terrence Wall
Over the last few months, we have had numerous break-ins at our office properties — and many business associates have related to me stories of break-ins at their own businesses and even their homes. Add to this the random murders that have occurred by strangers, and we have a serious crime wave on our hands that needs to be addressed.
And while this increase in crime used to be limited to the City of Madison, the crooks have now started to spill over into adjacent communities as well. Even in my own neighborhood, we have had an unprecedented rash of home burglaries committed by homeless persons. In our case, the "perps" walk down the railroad track and enter through the golf course, because they know the police aren't patrolling the golf course.
On the west side, thieves appear to be gangs seeking small assets to sell for quick cash, striking in groups after first triggering the alarm system so that they can time how long the police take to respond.
Once they have the timing down, they then come back a few days or week later and break into (in our case) 17 office suites at once with a smash and grab 'm-o', limiting their time to ensure a clean escape.
Unfortunately, many people have expressed their frustration to me that they can't get action from their local unit of government. Unfortunately, there seems to be an attitude among some of our representatives that, "that's life in the big city," or, "there's nothing we can do about it," — as if we should just accept our fate.
I don't buy that line of thinking. I refuse to accept the status quo and I refuse to accept our victimization as something that we have to just grin and bear. We can do something; we can take action. First, we can take personal action, and second, we can demand accountability from our elected officials and increase police services.
As for personal action, we can be alert to strangers in our neighborhood and phone in a 'neighborhood watch' call to police when we see anything out of the norm for our neighborhood. For example, this past July, my wife and I were exiting a local gas station when a college-aged woman (being dragged by a man) started yelling for help.
We didn't have a cell phone on us, so we called attention to the situation by flashing our lights and sounding our horn. Luckily, our local village police officer just happened to be driving by and heard us. He pulled in and detained the perpetrator. We then left.
Being nosy, I couldn't resist returning to the gas station with my wife's car (and cell phone) to fill it up, too. When I drove by the station, I observed that the village police had turned over the 'couple' to the Madison police. When I then came back a few minutes later, they were all gone, so I stopped to gas up.
While filling up the tank, I noticed a man walking back and forth quite a few times from the gas station building to the street. Then, when he had his back turned, a young woman darted out of the building and around the corner and ran over the railroad tracks into a dark village park. Seeing this, the man then dashed after her.
Rather than thinking "this is none of my business," I chose to take action. I drove around the block to the back of the park, which just happened to be right behind the village police station! While driving, I called 911, and when I arrived on the other side of the park, I could see her dark silhouette hiding behind the Girl Scout cabin. I then saw the man track her down; a struggle ensued and he threw her to the ground, both silhouettes struggling in the dirt while I am practically yelling into the phone telling 911 dispatch to get the police out their back door and save this woman!
Finally, I saw a flashlight beaming up the path towards the couple. The person holding the flashlight then threw the man up against the Girl Scout cabin and handcuffed him.
I relate this example to you for a couple of reasons. First, that we each can take action to intervene to help others. Second, I was shocked that the Madison police let this criminal go instead of arresting him! Why?
By letting this man go, the police allowed him to commit a second crime against the same woman — which reminds me of the proposal to release more criminals onto the street using bracelet 'monitoring.'
There is a direct relationship between letting crooks go and increased crime, as this incident demonstrates. Numerous studies have provided evidence that a significant portion of crime is committed by repeat offenders.
Locking up bad guys works. Let's demand the protection we're entitled to, and that our businesses are entitled to. Don't accept the status quo.
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