Cobb County Police Department

PENS BULLETIN
SPRING 2013

Winter is gone and spring is here. We recently set our clocks forward for daylight savings time allowing the days to be longer but we must remember that it is still dark in the morning which means we have to look out for the children going to school. Watch your speed and watch our children.

 

CRIME
With the warm weather come good things as well as bad.  The good is we save on our utility bills because we can now open our windows to let fresh air in. The bad is criminals know those windows and doors are open. When leaving your residence remember to lock your doors and windows. When going to the gym or park, remember to leave your valuables at home or lock them in the trunk.


When winter passes and the weather gets nicer we usually do a little spring cleaning. Spring is a time to not only clean the yard and house but we must also remember to clean out the medicine cabinet and change the smoke detector batteries also.

 

Smoke & CO Detectors
If you didn't replace the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors at the start or end of daylight saving time, now is a good time to do it. It is also a good time to test your smoke alarms and CO detectors, although you should be doing that each and every month.


Neighborhood Awareness:

Cobb County Police are asking the public to remember that being a good neighbor can be one of the best crime prevention tools. This is particularly true at this time of the year when various criminals and con artists use the warm weather to take advantage of the elderly. Watchful eyes in the neighborhood can spot criminals and alert police and the community to their presence.

Spring is the time when "deception burglars" reappear in this region. Typically these are criminals on the move who begin working in the southern states and head north during the spring and summer.

Deception burglars generally work in pairs. One member approaches the victim, pretending to be someone benevolent: perhaps a contractor looking for work or a utility worker out to test a system. The criminal may also pose as a family friend of a relative, or the friend of a neighbor. While that criminal distracts the victim, another moves through the house, seeking out valuables. Often the victim doesn't even know he or she has been victimized for hours or days.

Other criminals are con men, posing as contractors, who convince victims something is wrong with their home. They ask for payment in cash, do a shoddy job, and then disappear.

The elderly are the most likely targets of these criminals, since they tend to be trusting, and very concerned about their property, their relatives and their neighborhood.

Local residents can help their elderly neighbors by checking in on them, and keeping an eye on them. If, for example, a neighbor sees an elderly resident in conversation with a stranger, they could politely inquire about what is going on. If residents see strangers sizing up their neighbors' home that could also be a sign something is wrong.  In that case, a call to 911 will get an officer to the scene to check things out. Involvement such as this builds stronger bonds between neighbors, and helps maintain safe neighborhoods.

 

Nixle
The Cobb County Department of Public Safety can now deliver real-time emergency notifications specific to an individual’s geographic area via text and email using a web - based system called Nixle. These messages will come to you from the Public Information Office of the Cobb County Police Department and other public safety divisions within Cobb County. By signing up for Nixle, citizens can expect the following types of notifications:

- Armed or dangerous persons in their area
- Missing person alerts to include Amber Alerts, Levi’s Call and Mattie’s Call
- Fatality or severe injury accidents resulting in significant traffic delays
- Other critical incidents that require real-time notification

To sign up for Nixle alerts, citizens can go to www.Nixle.com and register with the e-mail address and cell phone where they would like to receive messages. Once an account is established, the user will want to log in and click on “Locations” and add their home and work addresses located within Cobb County. The alerts are designed to target the geographic area relevant to the event that is occurring.

Be sure to click on “Settings” and opt-in to receive messages from Cobb County Government.