Three Meadows residents who missed the meeting can browse the highlights below.
Note: The below is provided by a resident of Three Meadows that attended the 1 May 2014 Neighborhood Watch Meeting for all phases. The individual is sharing these notes with fellow residents of Phase IV that may not have attended the meeting Permission has been granted to share the notes with the residents of the other phases.
This is distributed to you via the Neighborhood Watch E-mail Network for two specific reasons:
– To pass along the information disseminated at your Neighborhood Watch Meeting in hopes that it will reach those that were not in attendance. We ask that you share this with your neighbors as they may not be on the e- mail network distro.
– To ask your assistance by checking to see if your neighbors are on the e-mail network distro; and if not, explain the advantages of being on the distro and provide them the e-mail address for your neighborhood’s e-mail network point of contact so they can be added.
We want to thank the individual who put to paper the key points of the meeting with the intent of sharing. It is provided to you in part. This simple act can do nothing less than assist others with safeguarding their family, property and neighborhood. Together, in numbers, we make a difference.
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May 2, 2014
Dear Neighbors,
I attended last night’s Neighborhood Watch meeting for all phases of Three Meadows and wanted to summarize the meeting for you. This summary is a supplement and doesn’t replace the information contained in the Neighborhood Watch packet. If there is a difference, use the Neighborhood Watch packet information.
Two points of clarification before the summary. First,I am a resident of Phase IV, but I am not our Neighborhood Watch captain. Second,your Neighborhood Watch e-mail point of contact is not to be used to contact the police. That’s up to each of us to do, and do timely, when criminal or suspicious activity occurs.
A summary of the meeting follows.
- Police contact information.
Call 911 for emergencies. (Criminal or suspicious activity that is in progress.)
Call 690-3988 extension 0 for police assistance for non-emergencies. (Criminal or suspicion activity that is not currently in progress.)
Call 321-302-2205 (Rockledge Police Department’s Drug Unit) regarding ongoing drug activity or if you think there might be a drug house in your neighborhood. The info may also be emailed to
Corporal A. DiBiase-Deakins is a RPD Senior Staff Assistant and is in charge of the Neighborhood Watch Program. Her contact information is adeakins@cityofrockledge.org and 321-690-3213 ext. 3117. (911 and 690-3988 are to be used to report criminal or suspicious activity.)
- We are the eyes and ears of our neighborhood and need to be diligent in letting the police and our neighbors know what crime or suspicious activity is going on in a timely manner. “No call too small,”is a slogan that Cpl. DiBiase-Deakins repeatedly used.
- Reporting criminal or suspicious activity as soon as it becomes known is critical. Our neighborhood is large and nice, and because it is large we need to know that criminal or suspicious activity that happens in one area can and has moved to another area.
- Residents with security cameras who are willing to assist the police department by letting the police department review their camera activity when criminal or suspicious activity around their home occurs are asked to let the police know that theirs may be used.
- Scams are huge in Rockledge. Some specific scams that were mentioned involved people impersonating FP&L, the IRS, a bank, the White House,a“grandparent” scam in which the caller notifies the person that a relative is out of town and needs money sent to them immediately, or a company notifying you that you have won a lot of money and that to claim the money you must first make a deposit in their account.
- Our best defense is to know our neighbors and their general habits. For example;when they are normally home, when they aren’t normally home,when they are on vacation, and in general terms what “normal”looks like around their house. (The police are not asking for us to be nosey neighbors but rather to be neighbors who know and care enough about each other to report suspicious activity when it occurs. It was pointed out that if we know the neighbor well enough and are comfortable doing so that we should contact the neighbor first.)Two specific examples were given and involve gates and dogs. The police want to be notified if gates are open when they normally aren’t or if dogs are barking when they normally don’t. We are asked to notify the neighbor first (if we know them well enough to do so).
- Rockledge experiences three to four drowning victims a year. Open fence gates provide easy access to others who shouldn’t use a resident’s pool, but for whatever reason do. This particularly applies to children who wander into a yard with a pool. Drownings have also occurred when parents and other adults didn’t constantly supervise the pool area when others were present. We were encouraged to become CPR certified in an effort to provide immediate help. Pool alarms were recommended.
- Keeping houses well lighted was recommended because it deters crime. “Light your house or pay later,”was mentioned by Cpl. DiBiase-Deakins.
- Most home burglaries occur during the day. Rear sliding doors are the main point of entry. We were encouraged not to rely on the lock that came with the sliding glass door, but to get a “Charlie bar”or other device. Signs (alarm and neighborhood watch were given as examples) are deterrents.
- Most vehicular burglaries occur at night, especially when doors are unlocked and/or when anything is left in plain view.
- Summer is coming and the police know that with it comes an increase in criminal activity. It was noted that if parents don’t keep their children occupied, the children have been known to make themselves busy–sometimes by committing crimes.
- The suspicious activity noted below was emailed to the police by one of our neighbors on April
7. Cpl. DiBiase-Deakins said that it’s exactly what the department wants called in at the time it’s noticed. Unfortunately, the police weren’t notified when these occurred.
o About one to two months ago a house in the 1100 block of Winding Meadows was notified by a neighbor that someone with a flashlight was in the backyard around 9 PM. The neighbor who noticed the light lives on Sunday Drive. The light went out when a dog at the neighbor’s house alerted and ran to the fence. The owner of the house wasn’t home at the time. There was no noticeable evidence of any one having been there.
o Another house in the 1100 block of Winding Meadows, this time on the side of the road backing up to the pasture, heard a suspicious noise at night on the south side of their house about three weeks ago.
o Still another house in the 1100 block of Winding Meadows, this one borders the ditch on Roy Wall, has noticed a man in the bushes adjacent to their yard. This was also about three weeks ago, maybe longer.
o The owner of another house in the 1100 block of Winding Meadows heard a knock on a rear window at 4 AM about a week ago. It was loud enough to wake the owner up and for one of their dogs to alert and bark. The owner turned the lights on and went outside to check the area out. Nothing was found to be other than it should be. This house backs into a house on Sunday.
o A few days after number 4, another owner in the 1100 block of Winding Meadows was awaken by what sounded like something being moved on the back porch. Nothing was found to be out of order. This house also backs up to a house on Sunday.
o An owner on Sunday said that a man rang their doorbell at 630 AM on Monday, March 31. The owner caught a glimpse of the man, but not enough to provide a description.
o An owner in the 1200 block of Winding Meadows also had their doorbell at 630 AM on or about the March 31. The house is a few blocks away from the south end of Sunday.
o The owner of a house in the 1200 block of Winding Meadows had their doorbell rung at 1030 PM about a week ago. They did not answer the door. This house backs up to the pasture and is a few houses away from the south end of Sunday.
- Neighborhood Watch meetings can be held within each area (or phase of Three Meadows) as compared to last night’s all phases meeting and need to be held annually.
Two slogans,“No call too small,” and “It Only Takes 1 Person, 1 Call ”summarize the meeting well by indicating our police department’s desire to help and that it’s up to each of us as individuals and collectively as members in our Neighborhood Watch programs to be active in calling the police when criminal or suspicious activity becomes known to us.
Please attend the next meeting (a date hasn’t been announced) and pass this information on to Rockledge residents.
Respectfully,
A resident of Three Meadows