Robberies are up on Savin Hill

is something I didn't know about, nor did I realize that other cities and towns have that sort of direct number to the police also. Speaking of a direct dial to the police, there's an intercom number included on the roster of names and intercom numbers in the vestibule of our building that includes a direct line to the police, so that in the event of any kind of crime ( mugging, assault, etc), a person can dial that particular line, which will put them in direct contact with the Somerville Police, if need be. A neat setup, I think.

Regarding crimes of stalking, assault, etc., by acquaintance, neighbor, co-worker, etc.; vs. street-crime where a quick, opportunistic street criminal grabs somebody's purse and runs; I agree that that's mostlytrue--like 80 or 90 some odd percent of the time.

However, there are times when fairly nasty street crimes at the hands of strangers can and do occur, or there's a potential for them.

I still recall a time, back in the early 1980's, when I was attending B. U.'s now-defunct Program in Artisanry, where I studied metalsmithing, of being followed by somebody totally unknown to me who I'd never seen before..during the wee hours of the morning, on my way home. As I often wont to do, I'd stayed late to work in the studio, but this time, I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I lost track of the time, and by the time I left the school studio, the MBTA trains had stopped going for the night. Since I was hard up on cash and didn't have money for a cab, I hoofed it home. Walking up Comm, Ave., I had no problem, but when I got onto my street, I noticed that a young white male, in a navy-blue hooded sweatshirt who I'd never seen, much less talked to before, seemed to be following me. To see whether or not that was the case, I crossed over to the other side of the street. Sure enough, the guy in the hooded sweatshirt did the same--he, too crossed over to the other side of the street.

Not wanting to give this guy the satisfaction of knowing where I was living, I took a different tack. I went up another street that was sort of parallell to the one I was llving on. Upon instinct, I turned around, and.....sure enough, there was the same guy in the hooded sweatshirt, following me. I immediately asked him aloud "What the fuck do you want?". The guy immediately made a retreat in the opposite direction, and I ran home as fast as my legs could carry me. However, the guy's motives were clear--he'd been hoping to catch me off guard. So, I did what I felt neede to be done--not wanting to take any chances, if one gets the drift.

More recently, having driven over to JP to visit some friends, I was driving home between ten-thirty and eleven o'clock at night, when another car, the driver of which I didn't know and couldn't really see because it was at night, began to follow me when I was in my car, and followed me all the way home!! I went down the sloping driveway to our building's garage, inserted my card that is used to open the garage door in order to re-enter the garage and park. Lo and behold.....the car who'd been following me home also followed me down into the driveway! As is the policy in our building, I waited for the garage door to close, thereby putting the door between me and the car who'd been following me. Well.....believe it or not, the driver of the car who'd been following me backed out of the driveway of the garage when the garage door started to close.

Not long afterwards, I brought up that incident at out annual condo-owner's meeting and was told by management and other people at the meeting that I'd done the smart thing.

All of the above having been said, both of these incidents did happen, and were not just in the figment of my imagination. In both instances, the perpetrators of these incidents clearly did have bad intentions.

That being said, I've learned to exercise more caution, whether I'm walking or driving home at night, regardless of where I am, which is the best way to go.

is something I didn't know about, nor did I realize that other cities and towns have that sort of direct number to the police also. Speaking of a direct dial to the police, there's an intercom number included on the roster of names and intercom numbers in the vestibule of our building that includes a direct line to the police, so that in the event of any kind of crime ( mugging, assault, etc), a person can dial that particular line, which will put them in direct contact with the Somerville Police, if need be. A neat setup, I think.

Regarding crimes of stalking, assault, etc., by acquaintance, neighbor, co-worker, etc.; vs. street-crime where a quick, opportunistic street criminal grabs somebody's purse and runs; I agree that that's mostlytrue--like 80 or 90 some odd percent of the time.

However, there are times when fairly nasty street crimes at the hands of strangers can and do occur, or there's a potential for them.

I still recall a time, back in the early 1980's, when I was attending B. U.'s now-defunct Program in Artisanry, where I studied metalsmithing, of being followed by somebody totally unknown to me who I'd never seen before..during the wee hours of the morning, on my way home. As I often wont to do, I'd stayed late to work in the studio, but this time, I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I lost track of the time, and by the time I left the school studio, the MBTA trains had stopped going for the night. Since I was hard up on cash and didn't have money for a cab, I hoofed it home. Walking up Comm, Ave., I had no problem, but when I got onto my street, I noticed that a young white male, in a navy-blue hooded sweatshirt who I'd never seen, much less talked to before, seemed to be following me. To see whether or not that was the case, I crossed over to the other side of the street. Sure enough, the guy in the hooded sweatshirt did the same--he, too crossed over to the other side of the street.

Not wanting to give this guy the satisfaction of knowing where I was living, I took a different tack. I went up another street that was sort of parallell to the one I was llving on. Upon instinct, I turned around, and.....sure enough, there was the same guy in the hooded sweatshirt, following me. I immediately asked him aloud "What the fuck do you want?". The guy immediately made a retreat in the opposite direction, and I ran home as fast as my legs could carry me. However, the guy's motives were clear--he'd been hoping to catch me off guard. So, I did what I felt neede to be done--not wanting to take any chances, if one gets the drift.

More recently, having driven over to JP to visit some friends, I was driving home between ten-thirty and eleven o'clock at night, when another car, the driver of which I didn't know and couldn't really see because it was at night, began to follow me when I was in my car, and followed me all the way home!! I went down the sloping driveway to our building's garage, inserted my card that is used to open the garage door in order to re-enter the garage and park. Lo and behold.....the car who'd been following me home also followed me down into the driveway! As is the policy in our building, I waited for the garage door to close, thereby putting the door between me and the car who'd been following me. Well.....believe it or not, the minute the garage door started closing, the driver of the car who'd been following me backed out of the driveway of the garage!
Not long afterwards, I brought up that incident at out annual condo-owner's meeting and was told by management and other people at the meeting that I'd done the smart thing.

All of the above having been said, both of these incidents did happen, and were not just in the figment of my imagination. In both instances, the perpetrators of these incidents clearly did have bad intentions.

That being said, I've learned to exercise more caution, whether I'm walking or driving home at night, regardless of where I am, which is the best way to go.