Crime prevention starts with following the rules

Think back. Remember the excitement you experienced as a child standing in front of the ice cream cooler? Or how about when you waited up for Santa? Wow! I remember jumping up and down, thinking my feet would never touch the ground.

Fast forward to adulthood. Since the pause button doesn’t work, now think of the excitement of coming home to see your family and enjoying the spoils of your hard work. One problem: We forgot to lock the front. Or, our husband, wife or children were arrested for criminal activity, perhaps drunken driving.

All of a sudden, the excitement is tempered by the pit forming in your stomach and the frustration of being a victim. Or anger at yourself for becoming a suspect.

What do all these have in common? That’s right, the police.

The public should not take a nonchalant or indifferent attitude toward crime prevention. You see, a criminal already has no respect for laws. A thief’s conscience doesn’t account for how hard you work to establish your life.

The point is, we need to secure our homes’ doors and windows, and our vehicles.

But crime prevention isn’t only about locking doors; it starts with our ability to follow the rules. The simple liberties we enjoy such as driving or walking on the sidewalks depends upon our voluntary adherence to rules. If you consciously decide to stop adhering, you provide Boulder City Police Department with an educational opportunity.

Our educational opportunity may range from a talk to a ticket or a ride to one of our overnight windowless accommodations. Sometimes our most educationally deficient customers get a combination of all three. So, step up to the plate and help us fight crime, starting with your lawful actions.

Excited yet? Yes, OK, let’s go and hit the beat. “Control 269, I’ll be 10-8 in-service.”

■ Dec. 8.: Can you say “help”? Resident walks by a home near Marina Drive and spots a large, vacuum-type hose coming out of a van’s tail pipe and into the van’s window. A subject in the van is covering the windows. We arrive and determine the subject needs mental health counseling. The subject was taken to the hospital. Thank goodness for an aware neighbor.

■ Dec. 9: Officers responded to our newest watering hole at the Oasis Motel about a patron who fell on the ground. One too many? No, officers determined the subject had a seizure. Boulder City Fire Department transported the subject to the hospital.

■ Dec. 10. Officers are called by a family member to check out a carpet cleaning crew inside a home in the area of Bronco Road. Caller reports the crew is inside mom’s home. Officers arrive and determine the cleaning crew is legitimate.

Now is a good chance to mention this. We have all kinds of alleged vendors making sales visits in Boulder City. Please, do not give them any information or invite them into your home until you feel comfortable with who they truly are. You would be surprised as to how easy it is to get a company’s shirt and represent that company. Believe it or not, sometimes these salespeople are criminals, just looking to scope out what’s in the house.

Oh yeah. If they ever call over the phone, do not, I repeat — do not give the caller any vital information such as date of birth, Social Security number, credit card number or bank account information. These callers sometimes impersonate being a family member, so be careful.

■ Dec. 11. Officers arrive in the area of Avenue B regarding a break-in. The resident shows officers where the suspect pried the rear door open. These thieves stole about $20 in change from the kitchen basket and left the residence. Officers have a decent idea of who it may be. Stay tuned.

■ Dec. 12. Officers get dispatched to the horse corrals regarding two nefarious-looking characters. However, we were unable to find them. About 15 minutes later, a caller reports seeing infamous subjects near the hospital. Officers stop the two known chemically dependent gentlemen. One subject is carrying two bicycles. The second subject is riding a bicycle, with a girl’s pink case.

Combined, the subjects have 25 arrests on the books. One admits to cutting copper wire off a trailer at the corrals. The other had two syringes in his pockets, but he’s not diabetic. By the way, the subject carrying the bicycles has a crowbar, and he admits to prying doors open. Yep, we have the culprits from earlier crimes.

■ Dec. 13. In progress call reports a thief just stole a car near Utah and Sixth streets. The owner admitted to leaving the keys in the ignition and seeing someone steal the car. While police units take tactical positions, the owner reports the car has GPS. They advised three different locations, at every end of Boulder City within a couple of minutes. We learn the GPS unit is actually at home being analyzed by a preteen grandchild. After all available units continue to look for the stolen vehicle, we learn the car was not stolen, but repossessed.

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Ol’ Saint Nick is getting ready. I hope you cleaned out your chimney. I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas Eve.

And please, if you have a chance, take a minute and help out those less fortunate. Think about it, if you’re reading this paper, you’re probably doing better than many others. Until next week, be safe.

Officer Jeffrey Grasso is a 10-year veteran of the Boulder City Police Department. He previously served as a police officer in south Florida for four years.