Crime watches emerge

Jack County residents have become fed up with crime in their communities. They aren’t alone. Substance abuse, namely methamphetamine addiction, has been an epidemic for many years. For the last several years, even small insular, rural communities have not been immune.

Following a rash of burglaries in both Jacksboro and Perrin, two new organizations sprouted up to combat the issue.

Perrin immediately began citizens watch patrols.

Members of the community are out nightly, cruising the streets and some back roads keeping an eye on things.

Jacksboro’s crime watch has had a couple of meetings and is still working to get organized.

I’ve heard some folks in Bryson have contacted members of the group in Perrin to try to get something similar going there.

If you’re interested in helping the Perrin or Jacksboro group, the guys to talk to are Kenny Salazar and Ken Hargrave, respectively. 

But it doesn’t take belonging to an organized group to look out for your neighbors and your neighborhood. All it takes looking around and calling  if you see something suspicious.

My parents belonged to a Neighborhood Watch when I was growing up. I’m not sure why. I can’t remember any crime to speak of happening on the dead-end street of about 20 houses in the tucked-away subdivision where we lived. Our street was bordered on one side by a lake and woods on the other. It was pretty obvious if anyone was out of place there.

Things were a lot different back then. My parents and the neighbors all came out front and visited in the street in the evenings while us kids would ride our bikes or big wheels or just run around like maniacs.

Simpler times. We may not know our neighbors as well and stay more tucked away in our backyards, but most of us do know our traffic. We know if there’s a car sitting somewhere that doesn’t look right.

We know if there’s strange foot traffic in front of our homes or if someone is lingering or scoping things out.

If it seems suspicious, it very well could be and is likely worth a phone call to the sheriff’s office. 

The police and deputies cannot be everywhere at once. They rely on help from citizens to report possible criminal activity.