Friday, March 22, 2013

agnostic on security

And in theme with yesterday, I went to my very first block club meeting last night. There were a lot of people there who were older than me, most of them I'm guessing were homeowners, and we listened to talks by the CDC representative, the police sergeant in charge of our district, and a guy who was trying to sell us on some kind of surveillance camera setup on our main drags.

I noshed on homemade cookies and bottled water and found that despite my frustration with law enforcement, at least this guy seemed to give us some practical solutions and not a whole lot of "those people" paranoia, some degree of common sense, and a caution that just going out and packing heat isn't the wisest idea if you really don't know what you're doing with a gun. 

The big problem in my almost-hood is heroin, which also corresponds with prostitution and the rise of burglaries around here. There's also a bunch of kids who call themselves a gang who've been stealing a lot of stuff and putting up pictures of them toting guns on Facebook. It's sad that even yours truly on the straight-and-narrow knows where to score drugs within a block of where I live each way.

And just like even my former conservative self was creeped the heck out by the Patriot Act ten-plus years ago, and is even more disturbed now, I'm just as averse to the "for our own good and our own protection" on the neighborhood level too. One person a little louder than me raises the issue of privacy and is ignored at first and then told she has nothing to worry about and when she insists that this is creepy the guy says 'well only me and a couple of other people will be watching," to which someone else says well if this is accessible on your smartphone can't it be hacked, and then they do a raffle for a security alarm and I'm left feeling slightly more informed about some non-emergency numbers, but a little weirded out yet unsurprised by this twist at the end.

When the CDC people find out I'm a renter, they try to sell me on a first-time homebuyers program but the last thing I want is a house down here, to be living alone with all this going on so I just tell them that I'm too irresponsible to own a house. This is partly true, but I feel like everyone's trying to sell me a bill of goods with a lot of catches that I just don't want to buy into.


3 comments:

  1. The best home security system is to splash what looks like dried blood on your front door and leave a few empty bullet shells on the ground. The gangs will figure you've already been hit, or you're ready for them when they come in. But don't forget to put the wreath on the door because you want your place to look welcome. ;-)

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