First the meeting notification, courtesy of my friend Diane Williamson's page at Facebook.
New Albany friends and neighbors, there's another community watch meeting this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Floyd County Library in the Auditorium. I'm not organizing these meetings, but I attended the last one in September and there are a lot of good people coming together to make our neighborhoods and streets safer. Nothing wrong with that, now is there?
Floyd County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Lane will be in attendance (he's the guy who filed FELONY charges against our would-be home invader a couple of months ago, so he's my kinda guy) along with some newly-elected officials and some law enforcement folks to discuss how we can all come together to make our beautiful little hometown a little safer.
It's a good cause and I'm going to attend. Hope to see you all there, too!
The would-be home invasion episode of which Diane speaks was reported in the local chain newspaper on September 30.
New Albany residents unite to help stop crime, by Aprile Rickert (Hanson's Folly)
Many met through Next Door social media app
NEW ALBANY — A group of New Albany residents are forming partnerships to help make their neighborhoods safer.
More than 20 people gathered Thursday at a meeting at the New Albany Floyd County Public Library, to discuss concerns and share ideas about policing their corners of the city for criminal or suspicious behavior.
Many of those in attendance had met through the Next Door app, a national social media platform that allows residents in a particular area to share information on crime and other general topics. Several of those in attendance also said they've had things happen that have made them feel unsafe.
New Albany resident Diane Williamson said she's already seen what the network can do, after an incident that happened at her house about a month ago.
"In the middle of the night somebody yanked open our storm door and began to try to kick in our front door," she said. Her boyfriend, who also lives there, put his weight against the door to hold it closed.
"In the moment when you're faced with that situation, you just react," Williamson said. "You think 'let's keep whoever out.'"
The suspect eventually left, walking away, but the incident was caught on the couple's security camera. Williamson shared the video the following day on the Next Door app, and a neighbor later found out a nearby restaurant had also been damaged, a brick thrown through the window around the same time.
"That's how we put it together because of a neighbor paying attention, being snoopy, which is good, and sharing that information with me," she said.
The suspect was arrested and is facing misdemeanor charges at this time.
Williamson said what she hoped would come from this first meeting was more of the same — "More connection, more interaction among neighbors, more people signing up for Next Door," she said. "More people realizing that we are not powerless..."
Other residents shared during the meeting things they've seen; those who already are part of neighborhood watch groups talked about how they operate ...
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