In a small rural city 40 miles west of Philadelphia an arsonist (or a group of them) has been spreading fear and fire throughout the area and in the hard hit city of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. As reported on CNN and other national news organizations, authorities said that at least 30 fires were deliberately set in Coatesville in 2008 and 2009 with half occurring in the first month of January 2009. One such fire claimed 15 homes alone leaving residents scared for their homes, families and their own lives. One city official described the situation as terrorist in nature. With only 14 total officers normally assigned to patrol division, the police force is doing everything they can to stop and deter future arson attacks but is obviously challenged by manpower limitations. In a move that will hopefully reduce the number of potential suspects on the streets during the evening hours when most of the arson attacks have occurred, the city has implemented a curfew banning anyone under the age of 18 years old from being on the streets after 8:00pm but how long can that go on?
So the question is, with everything being done locally that can be done, what next? A number of years ago our nation was under attack in a sense as our southern borders were being flooded by a wave of illegal aliens coming into our country. Whether you agree with the argument that most were just coming here to seek better wages to support their families back home in Mexico and further south, our local, state and federal budgets were paying the price. Worse though was the knowledge that along with those who were not directly seeking to hurt our nation, were those who were. We know for a fact that terrorist suspects, drug smugglers, wanted alien criminals, murders, child rapist and others were also, and continue to, come across our southern border.
In response to these overt actions from unwanted individuals grew a group of proud and dedicated American citizens, volunteers if you will, who chose to no longer standby and watch our nations southern border remain an open door. This group of well organized Americans became known as the Minutemen. While controversy followed them wherever they took a stand, no one can argue with their success. Not only did they greatly reduce the number of illegal border crossings wherever they patrolled as eyes and ears to report illegal crossings, they also raised awareness of the issue. Finally after no longer being able to argue with the success of their efforts, our past President, George Bush, finally agreed to fund the much needed border fence project.
The fence is now being credited with reducing the number of illegal crossings and allowing our understaffed Border Patrol agents to focus on the areas that are still wide open thus helping to reduce the number of border crossings. In a similar fashion, the theory of putting a police officer on every corner says quite simply that doing so would virtually eliminate street crime as we know it today as very few people would commit a crime in front of a police officer. Anyone who doubts this theory needs to only look at the success of the Minuteman project to see how placing extra eyes and ears on the border stopped illegal crossings where the Minutemen were visibly stationed.
Would a modern day Rattle Watch work for Coatesville?
The Rattle Watch was a group of colonists in New York during the Dutch era from1609 - 1664 who patrolled the streets during night. They carried weapons, lanterns and wooden rattles similar to the ratchet noisemakers used during New Year celebrations. The rattles made a very loud and distinctive sound used to warn their fellow citizens of a fire. Upon hearing this sound, the colonists would rally and form a bucket-brigade to put out fire. The Rattle Watchmen also carried lanterns that had green glass inserts. This was to help identify them while they were on patrol at night. When they returned to their Watch House from patrol, they hung their lantern on a hook by the front door to show that the Watchman was present in the Watch House. Today, electric green lights still hang outside the entrances of NYPD Police Precincts as a symbol that the Watch is present and vigilant.
While the idea of citizens walking the streets of Coatesville carrying wooden sticks with rattles may seem outdated, the idea of uniting them to help stop, deter and perhaps catch the deadly arsonist(s) is not. Every day across America, above average citizens volunteer their time to watch over their neighborhoods and communities. From organized neighborhood watches, to mobile citizen watch groups and the more formalized citizens on patrol programs, Americans can, will and do come together to protect their fellow citizens. While some of you reading this, myself included, hope the person or people responsible for this string of arson attacks accidentally set themselves on fire thus learning a painful lesson while waking the nearby residents with their screams of pain which will alert them to the fire, chances of that happening are slim. In the end it will once again probably take the combined efforts of the citizens within the affected community to report a vital lead that will in turn allow the hard working men and women of law enforcement to follow up and build a case to convict the heartless individual(s) who are responsible for these cowardly acts.
With budget shortfalls straining many law enforcement agencies, involving the community as police and sheriff's volunteers in crime prevention programs can be a smart way to ramp up the needed personnel with low to no cost to help protect the community from those who prey upon it. As budgets and economic times improve, having an established volunteer program in place can provide a ready force should they be needed again and/or to maintain a lower crime rate than normal by continuing to utilize them in a formal crime watch program.
For the law enforcement officers and officials reading this who are considering implementing a volunteer unit, I invite you to take a moment explore some of the many resources and success stories of how civilian volunteer units have and continue to help law enforcement agencies all across our great nation. A number of success stories and police volunteer group profiles can be found at the NACOP web site listed below which are free to all and can downloaded for distribution to others you wish to share them with.
My heartfelt condolences go out to all those in the city of Coatesville who have been affected by these horrible crimes and best wishes to all the members of law enforcement who I know are working hard day and night to catch those responsible for these unthinkable crimes and may the full force of justice be laid upon those who committed these crimes.
