March 19 – “Neighborhood Cop”

Chris and I were in the front yard today when a police officer stopped at the house across the street.  Two men were standing around their car.  Actually one of them was the son of the lady who lives there.  He talked to them for a few minutes, then drove away.  Or so we thought.  Actually he just turned his car around and parked by the house next door.  He asked us if anyone was home, and Chris walked over and told him it was abandoned.  They ended up talking for twenty or thirty minutes.  He said he had been inside that house several times, just checking on things.  Someone from the house behind it had noticed a new bicycle in the back yard, so he was checking on that.  I don't know how they could have seen it of there was one.  It would be covered by the jungle grass back there.    The officer then told us that Gulf Village was "his" neighborhood.  He has great plans for us, it seems.  He wants to get us organized for a neighborhood association that tells people to mow their grass.  That one's not going to happen here, I don't think.  People here don't want to be told what to do with their own property.  Now a Neighborhood Watch program would work, because we already do that.    His plans included speed bumps to slow down traffic, getting brand new stop signs and other traffic signs up to show speed limits and such, and having a big homeowners meeting so he and some other guys could tell us that we need to lock our doors and windows.  One other thing he mentioned I don't have a good feeling about.  He said he would push for the homeowners to give the police power of attorney to stop people they see on our property and ask them what they are doing.  Without the power of attorney they have to have probable cause that a crime is being committed before they could stop someone.  The idea sound really noble.  I'm just not all that sure I want to give any government entity power of attorney over anything more than they already have.  If it's a piece of paper that very specifically limits them to stopping someone outside my house and talking to them, I might consider it.  But even that somehow just doesn't feel right.  We'll see.  In the meantime we asked him to see what he could do about the state of the house next door.  He promised he would call the code enforcement officer.  We are being watched.   Psalms 32:8 says, "8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you."   Father, I trust you to watch us.  Amen.