Jefferson
police are cautioning all residents to continue in their vigilance when
it comes to fighting crime. "That great crime wave is just around the
corner," implored detective Marlin Parent, himself a 23-year veteran on
the Jefferson police force. "All residents are urged to keep all their
doors and windows locked and bolted at all times, even when they are at
home. Crime rates are up in the big cities, and what happens there can
be expected here as well. All our parents and grandparents kept their
doors locked and you can see for yourself that it resulted in very low
crime rates around here. That goes for your cars, too."When asked how many home burglaries had been reported to his office during the last year, Parent stated that he did not have access to those statistics, but felt that if it was a low number, it was due to local residents looking out for one another and reporting suspicious behavior and unfamiliar faces. "We can usually tell when someone is where they don't belong," he added. He also warned people to be on the lookout for sexual predators and pedophiles, even though no arrests of this nature have occurred in his 23+ years on duty. "All you have to do is read the papers or watch TV," he said. "Those criminals are all over the place."
Mr. Parent wanted us to stress that identity theft is rampant and people should be extremely careful with their personal items. "Anything addressed to you should be shredded. You should avoid using social networks like Facebook, which simply gathers your personal information and uses it as it wishes. Sexual perverts are all over that thing. In fact, I would caution against using the internet at all. Especially buying things on line."
Statistics indicate that identity theft has affected less than 1% of the population nationwide. There have been no reports of it to Jefferson police, yet the police department is urging all residents to beef up their security and purchase expensive identity theft protection. "Most older folks here are worried half to death about their identities being stolen," remarked Parent. "I have no idea why."
In the meantime, police intend to crack down on local crime as they find it, including jaywalking, underage smoking, loitering, and dogs not being kept on leashes.
Rick Bland, contributor