My apartment complex is in downtown Farmington, NM. Not a big city, but we have our share of violence.
About one week ago I *almost* put myself in a situation.
It was a weeknight, around midnight so I was in bed. I'm a VERY light sleeper, I have to have a fan on all night to drown out all the bumps and creeks that normally wake me up.
I awoke to the faint sound of spraypaint outside my bedroom window. At this point I was VERY tempted to grab my Saiga shotgun and H&K USP to investigate, but thought better of it. At the time I rationalized that it was my neighbor who airbrush's, outside working on an art project of his. The fact that it was midnight alarmed me, but I let it be figuring it was a quirk of his. The last thing I wanted to do was storm out on my neighbor with guns drawn!
The next moring on my walk to work I noticed my neighbors house next to me had been "tagged" The graffiti ran across the door and onto the wall, and said some very unpleasent things.
On my way home from work I came across two squad cars and four LEO's talking to my neighbors outside their apt on the front steps. Their door was open so I assume the cops had also been inside, as one seemed to be hanging around the entrance to the dwelling.
My first thought was how MANY people lived in that apt, I must have seen two adult women, three or four adult men, and at least two children, all in a two bedroom apt. I'm pretty sure they all live there as they can be noisy neighbors, and I hear alot of different voices through the wall.
Not to mention the "young adults" always hang around the backside on the steps, drinking, smoking and genrally giving me the eyeball when I pass by.
I *assume* these youths are in a gang. And if they are not, I'm pretty sure they *want* to be. Their attitude is classic thug, plus "run in a pack" mentality.
Now I do not know these neighbors very well, and please don't take this the wrong way or out of context, but they are Navajo's and are NOT very friendly to me. Because of this I never felt encouraged to introduce myself.
Reguardless, I now feel like I have some facts to straighten out.
Anyway sorry about the rant, and the run on sentences, and genral lack of formatting
But my questions are as follows:
Would there be anything to gain by going out that night and confronting who ever was out there that night?
What would you do if the vandilism happend again?
How would you discover more about the identity and intent of these neighbors?
I'm not worried about theft so much, my apt looks rather drab, althoit is filled with lots of expensive and fast turn over loot
But I am very interested in keeping this area of the neighborhood pleasent. IE: no dealers, Vandals, or gangs. What tactics other than "neighborhood watch" would be applicable?
Anyway guys thanks for reading and thanks in advance for the responses.
7
About one week ago I *almost* put myself in a situation.
It was a weeknight, around midnight so I was in bed. I'm a VERY light sleeper, I have to have a fan on all night to drown out all the bumps and creeks that normally wake me up.
I awoke to the faint sound of spraypaint outside my bedroom window. At this point I was VERY tempted to grab my Saiga shotgun and H&K USP to investigate, but thought better of it. At the time I rationalized that it was my neighbor who airbrush's, outside working on an art project of his. The fact that it was midnight alarmed me, but I let it be figuring it was a quirk of his. The last thing I wanted to do was storm out on my neighbor with guns drawn!
The next moring on my walk to work I noticed my neighbors house next to me had been "tagged" The graffiti ran across the door and onto the wall, and said some very unpleasent things.
On my way home from work I came across two squad cars and four LEO's talking to my neighbors outside their apt on the front steps. Their door was open so I assume the cops had also been inside, as one seemed to be hanging around the entrance to the dwelling.
My first thought was how MANY people lived in that apt, I must have seen two adult women, three or four adult men, and at least two children, all in a two bedroom apt. I'm pretty sure they all live there as they can be noisy neighbors, and I hear alot of different voices through the wall.
Not to mention the "young adults" always hang around the backside on the steps, drinking, smoking and genrally giving me the eyeball when I pass by.
I *assume* these youths are in a gang. And if they are not, I'm pretty sure they *want* to be. Their attitude is classic thug, plus "run in a pack" mentality.
Now I do not know these neighbors very well, and please don't take this the wrong way or out of context, but they are Navajo's and are NOT very friendly to me. Because of this I never felt encouraged to introduce myself.
Reguardless, I now feel like I have some facts to straighten out.
Anyway sorry about the rant, and the run on sentences, and genral lack of formatting
But my questions are as follows:
Would there be anything to gain by going out that night and confronting who ever was out there that night?
What would you do if the vandilism happend again?
How would you discover more about the identity and intent of these neighbors?
I'm not worried about theft so much, my apt looks rather drab, althoit is filled with lots of expensive and fast turn over loot
But I am very interested in keeping this area of the neighborhood pleasent. IE: no dealers, Vandals, or gangs. What tactics other than "neighborhood watch" would be applicable?Anyway guys thanks for reading and thanks in advance for the responses.
7
