Neighborhood News
Our next Block Watch meeting will be Monday, May 6th at 6:30 pm at Fairview Lutheran School.
ALERT: Watch for Suspicious Vehicles!
Most recently there has been suspicious (suspected drug-related) vehicle activity outside of
Being on vacation I noticed a pattern of suspicious vehicle activity on Mt. Vernon just west of 66th St. 1. Cars would pull up and park along side the fences of 231 N 66th St. and 301 N 66th St. - i.e. not in front of any house - and leave their engines running. 2. After 5 or 10 minutes a young slim woman with long black hair would walk out to the car and get in. She would come from further up (west) on Mt. Vernon. 3. The driver would roll up the windows and they would be in the car for 5 or 10 minutes after which the woman would get out of the car and walk back up Mt. Vernon and the car would pull off. Last night a pick-up truck parked in this area with the motor running but left before the girl came out, I believe because my wife stood on our back porch and looked at them until they pulled off. Our next door neighbor also told me of similar suspicious vehicle activity on 66th St. just south of Mt. Vernon two weeks ago. This kind of activity is indicative of drug activity or prostitution. Today when I saw a car pull up and park in the same area I grabbed my camera and got a picture of the woman getting into the car (taken from inside our house) and then went outside and took pictures of the car. When the driver asked me what I was taking pictures for I responded "the police" at which point they both immediately drove off in the car (she did not get out). The pictures are attached. I tried to enhance the photo of the girl in the car to make her more visible and it is apparent she is not merely sitting in the passenger seat. A little while later an elderly gentleman who lives at 6623 W. Mt. Vernon asked me why I was taking pictures of the car. He said it was his grand-daughter having friends visit. I told him that the behavior was suspicious, asked why the friends would park down the street instead of in front of his house where there was ample parking and why here friends only visit her in their car for 10 minutes with the windows rolled up. He didn't have any answers. I told him I believed that "something" was going on and invited him to attend our block watch meetings. As the grand-daughter now knows I am watching for this activity she may tell her "friends" to park elsewhere in the neighborhood, possibly around the corner on 67th St. Please keep an eye out for short-term parking by unfamiliar vehicles and for the woman in the picture entering or leaving the vehicles. I will continue to take pictures of any vehicles that exhibit this behavior near our corner. If you are able to without being detected, please take a picture of the back of the vehicle. This gets the license plate number and the model of the vehicle. The biggest deterrent to this type of activity is letting these people know they are being watched. The are banking on the fact that their activities will go unnoticed.