Don't Become A Victim

Dearborn has started a Lock It or Lose It campaign in order to inform Dearborn residents that you can do your part in avoiding becoming a victim of crime. While the Lock It or Lose It campaign focuses on vehicle larceny, which Dearborn  Police Chief Ron Haddad has stated are now up to about 700 a year in the City of Dearborn, another alarming trend has been home invasion. It would seem that criminals have determined that if Dearborn is complacent about locking our cars, then maybe we don't lock our houses either.
Just this Thursday a friend of mine, whom I will not name here, and who lives in the Highland Neighborhood of Dearborn posted this on Facebook:

"Last night at about 2:30 am we woke up when the doorbell starts ringing and knocking on the front door. Went to investigate and no one was there. Then we saw 3 or 4 guys in the backyard pushing on a window. I turned on the yard light and they scattered, and sped off in a newer black Explorer with their headlights off. Police responded within a couple minutes." "Saw our neighbors security video of the perps. About 8 of them and had 2 cars. checking out house by house. neighbors yards, then mine. then took off when I hit the yard lights."

Does this mean Dearborn has become an unsafe city to live in? No I don't think so, but in order to insure it doesn't truly become that way we all need to be vigilant. We must lock our cars. We must lock our house windows when we're not home. Believe me, I'm the first one to admit that locking your windows is a pain. Just this week I rode bikes with my kids to school; I returned home to find I forget my house key. In the past I have been known to pull a screen and get in through a window. On this day I had locked all the windows and I was stuck outside, but at least I knew the crooks wouldn't be getting in either. Yes maybe the days are gone of leaving your back door perpetually unlocked, but honestly we live in a major metropolitan area, did those days ever truly exist? As the warm summer months come we'll be tempted to let the house air out while we're gone, but we must let the criminals know that Dearborn is not easy pickings and that we are on the look out.

If you see any suspicious activity or crime in progress call 911 immediately!

If you want to help with the S.O.D.A. Neighborhood Watch program please contact Regan Ford, myself, or submit a message in the Contact Us form on the full web version of this site.

Timothy Harrison
S.O.D.A. Vice President