Town Watch Report
January 26, 2008
by Pat Morrison, Town Watch Coordinator for the villages of Ardencroft, Ardentown, and Arden.
I met with Cpl. Amy Kevis, Community Police Officer, New Castle County Police Department (NCCPD), to discuss crime in and around the Ardens. Due to budget problems in the county and low police manpower, Cpl. Kevis is the sole community officer for a large part of northern Delaware, of which the Ardens is one small section.
[Click here to see the NCCPD on-line Crime Map. To see a map of crimes in our area, type in our Zip Code. The crimes listed happened within the last three months. They say that crimes on the state highways (Harvey and Marsh Roads) are not listed. The streets on the map gets strange around Ardencroft. You may want to compare crime in our area to adjacent areas. In January, 2008, the Ardens looked like an oasis of law-abiding citizens; either that or crimes weren't reported.]
The News Journal published a Crime Report Map on 1/24, that represents Cpl. Kevis's area. The Ardens are represented in area #15. For January there was an assault on 1/6, a Burglary on 1/7, Criminal Mischief on 1/7 and 1/12. The burglary occurred in Arden on Harvey Road, and no items were stolen from the home because someone was home at the time (10:30 a.m.) and the intruder left having only kicked in a door.
I have no information about the other crimes.
I had received information from the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred (CCOBH) that there had been mailbox thefts in Edenridge 1 and 2. Cpl. Kevis said a woman suspect has been identified and will be charged under Federal law. The thefts were done brazenly, in broad daylight; the suspect drove around the neighborhoods, looked for mailboxes with red flags up and stole checks written to pay bills. In a similar case in Newark the perpetrator simply whited out the top line listing the company or person the check was written to, and wrote "Cash" on the line, and the banks were cashing the checks. Cpl. Kevis recommends that people place their mail in mailboxes or go to post offices. At the very least, it might make sense to keep those flags unused, as charming as they are.
Additionally, Cpl. Kevis also recommends that mail be shredded with a cross shredder because some criminals are actually taking the time to piece together torn or single shredded papers to get numbers for identity theft.
After the 1/7/08 Burglary, I sent an email to alert several people in the community and to ask to pass the email on to those living on Harvey Road especially.
I am willing to send group e-mails for the purpose of informing residents about recent crimes so that people can be aware, vigilant (not vigilante,) and careful. The crimes I'd report would be about property theft/damage or assaults that might affect the whole community. If you would like to be so informed and did not receive the January e mail, write to townwatch@theardens.com and I will add your e mail to the group list. If you do not use e-mail, please call me at 529-1895; leave a message if no one answers. I will keep a log and call with information; out of that perhaps a telephone tree can be created. Hopefully these methods will not have to be used much, of course!
Town Watch will join the legions of volunteer cooks for the Dinner Gild. The first Town Watch dinner will be on May 3, 2008. Anyone who would like to work on the dinner please call me. Cpl. Kevis may help on the crew too!
As per usual, volunteers for Town Watch Patrol are welcomed. The hours for patrol are between 6 p.m. and midnight; no one is asked to be out in the wee hours of the night.
Pat Morrison
Town Watch Coordinator
529-1895
townwatch@theardens.com