Neighborhood Watch commentary:

Communities in Punta Banda, including Ejido Cantú, have formed a Neighborhood Watch due to a rape that was committed recently, as well as a sudden influx of some who seem intent on creating trouble.  The following commentary was posted on the Punta Banda Newsletter on  Jan 22, 2011 (#18353): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/puntabandanewsletter/.  It is somewhat lengthy, but provides an indication of how well a Neighborhood Watch Program functions when people actively participate:   

"A few comments about the incident on the beach yesterday morning that resulted in the arrest of 2 yay-hoos who were going house to house down the beach trying to enter and do whatever they intended to do.


First, it was 9 a.m. in the morning...in the morning, broad daylight, people up and awake and drinking coffee and enjoying their lovely morning on the beach.


It was NOT the dark of night or 3 a.m. when they could sneak around like rats and not be seen. It was broad daylight.


Second, they were brazen and basically unafraid when they were yelled at them and when they were confronted. They just moved on down the beach and continued to do what they were doing at the next house when they were confronted prior to the police arriving.


Third, the neighborhood watch program DOES WORK. Calls went out up and down the spit and neighbors were alerted. One neighbor who was listening to the message being left on their answering machine about the two headed south looked outside and they were on the patio of their house.


Fourth, our community MUST be vigilant and pull together and watch out for each other, even if we are the type of people who came here to be alone or be left alone. We MUST watch out for each other and MUST be aggressive and resourceful and engaged in our surroundings and alert to who doesn't belong here. We are the best deterent and the message needs to go out to the community that we're all tired of this and we're all working together to keep criminal elements off our property and the property of our neighbors.


Know who your neighbors are even if they are a few houses away, have their numbers on speed dial and have 066 -- the 911 of Mexico -- on speed dial. Have a phone nearby, not upstairs or half a house away. USE the phone and make the calls. 066 was called instantly yesterday and the Policia were here in less than 10 minutes and the creeps are arrested.


Keep doors and windows locked, have dowels or boards on sliders and windows, have motion sensor lights front and back and sides, consider an alarm system (some are expensive and sophisticated -- others can be purchased on line or at Home Depot fairly inexpensively), consider security cameras -- again some are fairly inexpensive. Our dogs -- who were the subject of a ton of newsletter comments last week -- are excellent alarms and deterents. Let them use their keen senses and desire to protect us and their homes. Reward them and love them.  Look to the US and what is happening there. Cities there are NOT safe. As governments slash budgets, public safety is on the chopping block in a big way.  Police response times there are suffering and police are understaffed and not as engaged in the community. People need to look out for themselves and for others and know what to do and how to pull together.


These are desperate times and bad people are willing to do more desperate acts.


Yesterday Neighborhood Watch worked and yesterday we were lucky. It will work again and those that do these acts need to know it works.


Finally, the Policia from Maneadero did their jobs well and efficiently yesterday and they are to be thanked and praised. They responded quickly, took control of the incident, went after the bad guys with a vengeance, protected us and apprehended the 2 suspects. There were at least 5 police vehicles on the spit and they are conducting followup investigations. A simple thank you from us when we run into them at a lunch stand or see them sitting alongside the road, or we flag them down as they are driving past will go a long way folks toward making this the kind of place we all want it to be.


Stay safe, stay alert, stay engaged, be well."