Dave Servello on Vandalism and Graffiti
frankly addressing issues of concern to the community
[Note: Below is an article by Security Chief Dave Servello on Vandalism and Graffiti that he emailed on 13 June to security patrol members. Reprinted with permission.]
You all know that this is vacation time for many of our volunteer drivers. The result of this is that some shifts are not staffed, and the result of that is vandalism & mischief tend to increase proportionally. You know this, but I thought it would be a good lead into what happened this past Wednesday and Thursday. Residents reported a number of cars egged in Shadow Canyon, Desert Sky, and Black Mountain Villages. Indeed, the SP Drivers who were working Thursday picked up the empty egg crate. Someone said the egg crate looked unusual, and it does if you consider it is an ammo belt/box. It was for 2 dozen eggs. Perhaps, we could prove they were purchased at Albertson's, and perhaps we could prove they were purchased Wednesday and Thursday night by persons from Anthem Highlands. What if the HPD actually knew who purchased the eggs. Why is this important to you? Well, you might recall the incident last year when four young people from Anthem Highlands were caught after midnight egging cars in Shadow Canyon. The HPD released them without a record or anything, and they would not tell the residents the young adults names or addresses. I believe this is why they keep coming back. It does not cost them or their parents anything, and the police see this as routine or annual teenage activity. It is a different situation if the eggs are not cleaned off before the sun bakes them into the paint of a car. The cost to the vehicle owner becomes very serious. I discussed this with Captain James Green of the HPD, but he kept saying the affected resident could always make a citizens arrest. I reminded the Captain that this is the reason all law enforcement agencies provide free arrest incident insurance for their enforcement officers. In the instant situation should a home owner decide to make a citizens arrest, he assumes liability for all issues involved in the arrest. In other words the home owner is betting his or her life savings that his or her actions will stand up in any court. Those of us who have made a number of arrests will tell you that you need to know and understand a great amount of law, and you need to have a great memory with excellent recall.
So how do we deal with the egg gangsters?
1. First, we need more volunteer Drivers. Every time , I meet a SCA residents I ask him or her if he or she would consider joining the SP. Yes, I get many refusals but I feel like I am at least trying to do something.
2. Some of you may have stronger ties to one or more of our SCABOD members, may contact that member (s) to ask the SCABOD to support our SP by reaching out for additional community volunteers.
3. Some of you might ask your neighbors to pitch in and volunteer some of their free time.
4. Some of you have social ties to other SCA clubs who might wish to volunteer for short periods of time on an as needed basis.
5. Perhaps, our SCASP should consider establishing a temporary volunteer pool, or an emergency volunteer pool which could be called upon when our regular volunteers go on vacation or simply want a break.
CONSIDER THE FACT THAT EVERY SCA RESIDENT BENEFITS FROM THE WORK OF THE SECURITY PATROL VOLUNTEERS AND OUT OF 10,000 + RESIDENTS WE HAVE 130+ VOLUNTEERS.
6. The only way this egg issue can be dealt with effectively is with more night shift patrols through the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM. We do not have the personnel for this. If we do not have and can not get sufficient personnel then we will need something to take the place of personnel (Cameras). Given the cost of cameras this would have to be funded by the SCA Association. We will ask, but we do not control the response.
7. We are non confrontational, so maybe the SCABOD would consider paying for cameras that could be mounted on the front (concealed) of our vehicles so we could simply photograph the vandals in action.
8. We have asked the SCABOD to install cameras at strategic locations throughout our community.
9. We need the residents of this community to get involved and report what they see when they see someone involved in criminal activity, or doing something improper, suspicious, dangerous, or when they see young people moving in and about our community late at night, etc. Those residents who do not want to identify themselves by name when reporting incidents should be reminded that their unwarranted concerns are bring more harm to our neighborhood. No one in SCA has ever faced retaliation for reporting anything to the SCASP or to the HPD.
10. I am not an electronics expert, but some of you might know whether it is possible to patch together a series of community neighborhood cameras through multiple Internet networks through our many SCA individual residential homes. This would be an interesting project, and may be more effective than Neighbor Watch.
11. We know when and how Random Acts of Vandalism increase in SCA. When Schools are let out, and after midnight. Our SCABOD could contact Vons and Albertson's and ask them to consider notify our SCASP or the Watch Commander by phone when they sell several dozen eggs to young people after 10 PM and before 6 AM.
12. The Security Patrol will draft a letter to the HPD, care of Captain Green, asking the department to consider catching and identifying the young persons engaged in vandalism within SCA, and to provide our SCABOD with their identities so that their parents can be presented with a bill for damages. This might require some legal action in support of the SCA Association.
13. Perhaps we need Warning or Caution Signs placed within SCA advising every entrant that we take pride in our community and will prosecute every violation to any residents property to the fullest extent of the law. SCA might need a specialist Attorney for this type of action. I think there are many SCA residents who would support this action.
14. We know or at the very least suspect these young persons are collecting in the Trail Head area. It might be wise to install motion detectors with flood lights, cameras, and if possible with loud speakers so we could interrupt their meetings and discourage their activity in that area. Those resident who live in this area must become proactive and report all suspicious to the HPD or SP immediately.
15. Similar to the no soliciting signs, it may be possible to legally install signs that state all vehicles within any SCA village after midnight will be photographed or identified on camera. This action is similar to placing a sign in your home window stating your home is protected by a Security Company.
16. More SCA residents need to attend our SCA monthly SCABOD meetings and demand that our SCABOD stop spending their time dealing with mundane matters and support our Security Patrol initiatives, some of which are addressed herein. The SCA Association has enough committees, but what it doesn't have is enough protection for our community. Our home values are based upon crime and accident stats, among other things.
17. Our SCASP needs an effective means to advise all residents of changing crime and vandalism trends. The release of information through the Spirit Magazine and Channel 99 is still controlled by deleting information or by not releasing information when it is believed to contain news or information that might upset some residents in SCA. I do not know how to fix this.
Finally, If you believe the Security Patrol is respected by the SCABOD, consider the fact that the SCABOD took control of our storage room without advising anyone in the SP simply because the Board wanted the storage room for their own use. Twice Mr. Mike Dixon said he would provide the Chief with a storage room key, and both times he changed his mind. RMI has keys, and SCA maintenance personnel have keys, but no one in the SP is authorized to have a key. Roz Berman advised me that this storage room is now consider by her to be a Security Document Room, and only specifically authorized and trusted persons can have keys to the room. I honestly believe Roz Berman means well, but is ill advised. She is not a people person, which is why the SP has not pressed her on the above 17 recommendations. You should know that over the past five years the SP has sent these and other safety recommendations to the SCABOD President in writing. I only included this paragraph in this Email so you all understand that we have tried and are trying to address these security issues as they develop through proper channels, but this approach has not been very effective. I intend to ask our past Security Patrol Chiefs to bring these matters to the SCABOD in hopes that they will be more able to motivate the Board into taking or considering some of our recommendations. As always, I want to hear suggestions from our volunteers. So, if any of you have an idea that you believe has merit please write it down an put in on my desk. Thank You.
Respectfully, Dave Servello, Chief, SCASP
I believe one or more of these things will work, but I can not be the only one who attends our SCABOD meetings to speak out on these issues. Our purpose is to increase community awareness of these and other problems, but we should not risk confrontations that would or could negatively impact our SP image, because we are the visual security blanket for most SCA residents. The more residents who show up and express concern for the increase in crime, vandalism, and accidents the more likely our SCABOD will take action. One of the major problems our SCABOD faces is timeliness of action. The SCABOD's procedures are so slow that often when they address an issue it takes months if not years to get the action initiated or completed, and by that time it will be too late.