Anti-Prostitution Activities in Seminole Heights - Part 2

This is a continuation of Anti-Prostitution Activities in Seminole Heights - Part 1

Next is 2003 - again Seminole Heights has the most arrests for prostitution.



Next is 2004- we see the beginning of a trend, with North Tampa (just South of Fowler) having the highest grid amount.




Finally 2005. For the first time, Seminole Heights has a minor amount of arrests. The activity has shifted north to Sulphur Springs and North Tampa (just south of Fowler). Seminole Heights is no longer the hotbed of prostitution. I suspect most of the arrests in Seminole Heights are stings by undercover cops arresting Johns.

What I can't get are hard data on arrests in the county but I suspect you would find that the county areas of Nebraska north of Fowler to Bearss, and Hillsborough east of 47th Street would have increased over the years. This is based on observations by residents and police and from HCSO online arrest reports.

Why has this dropped? This will be explored in the next post - but basically due to the organized efforts of the Seminole Heights residents.

Chili Cook Off

The 2nd Annual SE Seminole Heights Chili Cook Off will be held tomorrow night at 7:00 P.M. at the home of Mike & Joel at 1012 E. Chelsea St. They have about 10 entries and expecting a good crowd.

The "fee" to enter your chili is $10.

Please be sure to tell all of your neighbors and friends to attend. Everyone in attendance will get a free meal and will be eligible to vote for their favorite. Obviously, the more friends and family members that you have, the better your chances of winning the pot. They just ask that those attending the event, but not entering, to please bring chili condiments, i.e., cheese, sour cream, crackers, hot sauce, beverages etc., along with them.

The winner last year, Liz H., very graciously donated her $100 to assist the victims of last year's Tsunami in Asia.

It will be about 50 degrees so please dress warmly. They will have hot beverages and fires going so it won't be that bad. In lieu of or in addition to anything you plan to bring, you can also bring some firewood. They will have about 4 outdoor fireplaces going on so wood would come in very handy.

All of my Starbucks posts

There is a huge discussion going on at a recent post - Starbuck Builds
In case anyone is interested, here are all of my postings on the subject of Starbucks. I especially recommend reading posting 4/19/05 which include comments from the City Council meeting.

4/1/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/04/starbucks.html

4/8/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/04/arc-versus-starbucks.html

4/15/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/04/we-have-starbucks.html

4/19/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/04/starbucks-one-last-time.html

6/7/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/06/arc-and-starbucks_07.html

6/8/2005 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/06/more-on-arc-and-starbucks.html

6/15/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/06/tampa-tribune-and-starbucks-and-arc.html

7/13/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/07/july-13-starbucks-arc-hearing.html

7/14/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/07/starbucks-is-coming.html

7/18/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/07/trib-and-starbucks.html

9/28/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/09/whats-up-with-starbucks.html

10/19/05 http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/10/starbucks-delayed.html

Pronouncing Powhattan

So how do you pronounce Powhattan ( an east/west street in Seminole Heights)? Well first who or what is is Powhatan? He was "1. a member of any of the Indian tribes belonging to the Powhatan Confederacy. 2. the Eastern Algonquian language spoken by the Powhatan people. 3. c1550–1618, North American Indian chief in Virginia, father of Pocahontas and founder of the Powhatan Confederacy."

Here is how Yahoo pronounces it

Here is an interesting discussion about the subject on a train club forum.

Anti-Prostitution Activities in Seminole Heights - Part 1

This is actually a continuation of a post that I began on May 3, 2005 with the Nebraska Avenue Stories Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. These outlined prostitution problems we faced in anecdotal form and some early attempts to deal with the issue by Seminole Heights residents.

This next series of posts will show the extent of prostitution in Tampa, Seminole Heights and Nebraska Avenue graphically and statistically, how it has been reduced dramatically and how Seminole Heights caused that reduction. Nowadays, Seminole Heights is no longer the place to find a prostitute, just a place to get arrested if you try.

The data I am presenting is from the Tampa Police Department, obtained from their Thematic Crime Maps and their Crime Statistics. The data only goes back to 2000.

Seminole Heights is composed of the following police grids: TPD District 2: 43, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51, 52, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, and TPD District 3: 69, 70, 71. South Seminole Heights is Grid 69. Southeast Seminole heights is Grid 71 and part of Grid 70. The rest is Old Seminole Heights.

This map shows the prostitution arrests (Johns and Prostitutes) from 2000 to 2005. Most occured on the Nebraska Avenue corridor (the black line to the east that runs parallel to I-275.) Seminole Heights Grid 52 (Hannah to Sligh) had 357 to 447 arrests in that time period. The next highest is just south of the City/County Line at Fowler Avenue. The third next is again in Seminole Heights in grids 45 and 44 (179 to 268 each)


Next we have data from 2000. Notice how it is spread all over the city, with the highest arrests in SH grid 52 with 107 to 161.


Next is 2001. SH grid 52 has (124 to 164) and grid 45 has (83 to 124).


Next is 2002. Almost all of Seminole Heights along Nebraska was evenly hit as the most arrests in the city (37 to 46 each)

**(2003 to 2005 will be posted tommorrow as it it late)

Cool New blog - Tampa Taxi Shots

Take one cab driver, one digital camera and one computer and you end up with Tampa Taxi Shots written by Tim Fasano.

This is really cool. He share cab driver insights, and photos he has taken as he goes around the city. There are photos of models C.J. and Raquel Gibson (who just hit the big time), actors in period costumes in a History Channel production at Plant Hall, Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission Regulationsvarious waterfront photos and others, including an interesting insight into the Tampa Trib's newracks. He advised us where are the best places to flag down cabs.

We all have our daily routine, seeing the same things every day. As a cab driver he cuts across those routines, giving him the opportunty to show us slices of Tampa, that we might not see.

The *TBT! or the Weekly Planet need to do a story on him.

Searching for Images of Seminole Heights

I received this email from Andrew Meadows

". . . I don't know if youve ever posted this on your blog but I recently found a link to the Florida Electronic Library's site which is quite amazing. Go to the site and hit the Florida on Florida entry on the left side. The search engine allows you to peruse tens of thousands of historical Florida photographs. I looked up Seminole Heights and Nebraska Avenue and several local landmarks and found many interesting photos, some more than 80 years old. The site is quite addictive. Anyway, I thought your readers might enjoy. . . .The link is http://bibt10f-8.fcla.edu/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx "

Thanks Andrew. I've been aware that the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library has a searchable site for their photos at http://www.hcplc.org/hcplc/liblocales/jfg/H&G/burgert/
but not the site you found. That site is good because it allows searching from a larger collections of images for a larger part of Florida.

Andrew's email prompted me to start searching. Here are some images I found today:

Citrus Motor Lodge, 7001 Nebraska Avenue (taken in 1949)
http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive12/11198.jpg

Craftsman style home of Jose Suarez, 4203 Nebraska Avenue (taken in 1924) now the
La Casa Domicana Community Support Center. ( north of North Bay on the east side) http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive15/14311.jpg This photo show how much right of way was eaten up in the expansions of Nebraska to its current dimensions.

Henry West & Sons Hardware, 4001-3 Nebraska Avenue (taken in 1934) now the Tampa Door Store.
http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive10/9487.jpg

Dickerson home at 5602 Nebraska Avenue (intersecting with Comanche Avenue), front and side facades: (taken in 1923)
http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive02/1379.jpg. Is this the former site of Taboo?

There used to be a theatre in SE Seminole Heights. NorthTown Theatre, 4020 Nebraska Avenue (taken in 1943) http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive03/2568.jpg

Residence of Albert Taylor at 4902 Nebraska Avenue (taken in 1924). This is still standing http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive04/3865.jpg


Streetcar and automobile traffic on Nebraska Avenue (4000 block) at intersection of Buffalo Avenue (800-900 blocks) (Taken in 1925) http://burgertimages.hcplc.org/archive02/1031.jpg

Steve Gluckman is or was involved in some sort of cataloging activity with the Burgert Brothers photos and he was looking for help. Perhaps some can can post an update on that project.

Have fun with this. Look up your street and see what you find. Put links to anything interesting in the comment section.

Insights into the mind of a John

***WARNING*** The following is offensive and disgusting****


One of our readers sent me an email that was sent to him by someone who knows he lives in Seminole Heights. The original emailer came across this comment on an adult forum website.

Just got here from Tacoma, Washington
Damn, I miss the ladies up there now!

I have driven up and down Nebraska, and can see a few black providers, but I am done with them - they tend to not provide as agreed upon at first.

10 years ago when I was here last, I could find the ho's left and right on Nebraska, but there aren't any left.

Anyone here who has a good idea about a better area, or maybe even a good time to hook up with them?

Thanks.

The following are some rules for pickling up a prostitute that were posted on a prostitution web site a couple of years ago. These came up in one of our meetings of the Prostitution Task Force. They provide some insights into the mind of a John.

Hi guys,

I haven't been in the Tampa area now for almost 2 years, but I spent 10 years before that there. I hit the AMP's (Asian Nassage Parlors) and the SW's (Steetwalkers)most heavily during 5 of those years. I just wanted to add some things that I learned over the years when picking up SW's. I was never arrested or stopped or in too much trouble. A gun was pulled on me once by some knockout blonde that used to frequent the area around Sligh and Nebraska and the used car dealerships there.

1. The girl must be alone, or at the most - 1 girlfriend with her. I wont stop in a crowd of three.

2. I'll drive by MINIMUM once to check out the area - guys hanging out anywhere close that could run up to the door and carjack me? Cops up ahead with binoculars? Nosy homeowners looking out the windows?

3. The girl can't be wasted and weaving all over the sidewalk... one time i had the misfortune of picking up a superhot girl that was maybe 17 walking down the middle of hillsborough, crying, and limping.. I thought maybe she was hit by a car... but, nope - she said - was raped by some johns (2-3) and her legs were bruised, AND she was high on something, paranoid that I was one of their friends, and got nutso in the car. I had to drop her off asap.

4. If they give me the hooker stare - like the black girls do sometimes - I just drive by. It's like they have attitude and who the hell needs that when I'm going to offer them a ride in MY car and give them something nice to go buy their crack with?

5. If they are on a main street, Hillsborough or Nebraska, and there is a lot of traffic, just pullup one of the sidestreets ahead of where she is walking. Park and turn off your lights. Believe me, she saw you. Crack the window a bit, keep the doors locked, talk to her outside the window for a few just to see if she's high, got smoker breath, whiskey on her breath, missing teeth, whatever.

6. If you decide to let her in, just unlock HER door, not the flip of the switch for all doors to unlock b/c there just MIGHT be someone else getting in the back door while she is getting in the front. SW's are in some scary areas man, you gotta be VERY careful.

7. When she gets in you can almost assume that she is not law enforcement b/c I don't think cops EVER get into a car with a John, though I did see it on COPS once I think. Do NOT follow where she tells you to go, just drive and talk for a minute. Ask if she is a cop and tell her to prove that she is not. She will show her ****, but I always ask to see the ****. I don't think any cop will show her ******. haha. She might ask to see yours, show it at that point.

8. She'll say what do you want. You have to KNOW what you want beforehand b/c if you are not she will sense that you are weak and start to control the situation. Never be weak, even if you ARE weak. Just act like you got your **** together and take control of this situation, you're the buyer here. She will con you in any number of ways if you don't tell her exactly what you expect, like, "I want head and you gotta swallow" or, "I want head and to blow in your mouth but you could spit it out the door." Make it clear what you want.

9. Carry your own condoms, and use it for the BJ TOO!

10. If you ask for a handjob, they may agree and then just start the BBBJ because they can make you lose the load more quickly and get on to someone else. Be ready for that, because you won't have a condom on and there is all kinds of weird **** you can get from a bj.

11. If she's not successful in the first 2 minutes she'll come up for air and say "oh come on, lets go, I cant do this forever" and other stuff. Be ready for it and say "OK, give me the $ back and get out." Say it firmly but not mean. Most times she'll get back down there and finish the job, but not without some more bs.

12. Uhm, hmm, what else? Oh, when she gets out of the car, check your freaking car because she may have put her glass crack pipe in the holder in the side of the passenger door, she might have left the used condom or the wrapper somewhere on the passenger side for your wife / g/f to find! It's happened to me man (the condom). I found the glass pipe while cleaning the interior. That **** is not funny because if a drug dog alerted to your car while in the parking lot of publix you'd be explaining something you shouldn't have to be.

13. If she gets in and you remotely, even REMOTELY, suspect that the girl you let into your car is a man, say "Are you a guy?". Half the time they will deny it, so say, "I'm going to be really pissed off if I find out that you're a guy." That will get them to bail out of the car because they've almost all had some violent experiences with guys that realized too late that they just gave their manhood to a man.

14. If she gets in and is covered with perfume or smoke and you have a g/f or wife- get her the hell outta the car. I always ask if she has perfume on while talking out the window.

15. I rarely STOP anywhere to receive what's coming to me, I just drive around the back streets. It's much safer than coming to a stop and having a neighbor call LE and be caught like that. Much harder to catch a moving vehicle.

16. I agree with the other post, do NOT go anywhere they TELL you to go. Stay within the limits that they ask, but don't go to any specific location.

17. Do not EVER agree to any price or sex act when the girl is outside the car because that is a cop trick. I was VERY nearly busted at Busch and Nebraska in this way. She said "How much you want a bj for?" I said "come on in the car." She said "30?" I said "no" and kept driving, and saw the goon squad down the block a bit waiting to pick my ass up had I said " yes".

18. if the girl is too paranoid, tell her to get out. That's what happened to me when the girl pulled out the gun. She thought I was someone she had ripped off before and got really scared I was going to beat her or something! Nuts!
Anyway, ok, I hope that helps.

Sean Tampa

Now in regards to the above rules, these days, the only person you are going to see walking the street in Seminole Heights will be an undercover cop. So if you come to our area looking for a prostitute, what you are going to get is a ride to jail.

The Blotter and Seminole Heights

Well, this blog was mentioned in the Weekly Planet. Joe Bardi, who writes the Blotter - a column on crime stories - completed a top 10 of his stories. Receiving an honorable mention was a story:

"THE STING (10/26/05) followed the exploits of a female undercover cop
working vice in the Seminole Heights area of Tampa as she met such local
luminaries as the dude who rubbed his penis though his pants while negotiating
for sex and those two guys who would not take no for an answer. A blog called
"Seminole Heights" took The Sting and attempted to put faces to the names. Check
it out at: http://seminoleheights.blogspot.com/2005/10/prostitution.html."

Thanks Joe. Your column is one of the reason I read the Planet.

Old Rules for Crack Cocaine Dealers

I was on the library web site, searching through old articles about Seminole Heights, seeing what was news when I came across this old 1989 column of Mary Jo Melone's in the St. Pete Times about crack dealers in the old Riverview Terrace Housing Project. Here are some excerpts:

1. Do not assume they are the neighborhood Welcome Wagon, as they run into
the street, waving and smiling at you.

2. Do not assume those little
white things in their hands that they
appear to be hawking are Bucs tickets.

3. Do not stop. Do not slow down.

8. Recognize how Mrs. Warren and other law-abiding people who live in
Riverview Terrace have built their lives around avoiding the crack trade, and
have concocted an etiquette of survival.

9. Never yell at the crack
dealers, even when they are doing business near your front door. Be polite. Call
them sir. ``If I went after them the wrong way, they'd go after me the wrong
way,`` Mrs. Warren said.

10. Do not point out the dealers or speak about
them in a loud voice. Never advertise whether you have called the police to
report the dealers' goings-on. These things make the dealers nervous. Do not,
under any circumstances, make them nervous. `'When you see the violent part of
it,`` said Mrs. Warren, who has heard the dealers' gunfire, ``it's because they
were provoked.``

12. Learn to accept the fact that Riverview Terrace
bears some resemblance to a war zone in which people like Cheryl Warren are the
civilians. At night, she does not:
a. let her children out even under her
supervision.
b. sit on her porch.
c. walk through Riverview
Terrace.

15. Recognize that most people, who don't have crack dealers on
their street corners, may not give a damn what happens in Cheryl Warren's
neighborhood.

16. Wonder whether those people will ever wake up.

Well, things have changed since then. It's been a while since I have seen a drug dealer doing business. Thanks to the increased police enforcement and Mayor Iorio's Operation Committment , the razing of the project and it's replacement Oaks at Riverview, and the Neighborhood Watch Patrols and neighbors actions , the crack dealers have gone to play somewhere else.

White/Blacks Percentages in Seminole Heights and Central Tampa

Here are the black/white percentages. There will be crossover with Hispanics as these include whites and blacks of all ethnicities

White Percentages








Black percentages

Found Cocker Spaniel

I received this email:

A very sweet male cocker spaniel was found wandering the streets in
North Seminole Heights on New Year's Day. His back leg appears to be injured. He has no tags or collar. Attached is a picture. If anyone is looking for this dog or know who he belongs to, please email me at eb73(at)tampabay.rr.com.

(Editors Note: To reduce robot spammers to that email I subsituted "at" for "@" in the email address)

Starbucks Builds

Yipee! Starbucks in Seminole Heights has started construction and soon we will be sipping our latte's there watching our dogs drink from the water trough.


However not everyone is happy about it. There is a "Just Say No To Starbucks" crowd who midly expressed thier opinion on the subject.


I don't know if this is the corporate logo of the naysayers or someone who wandered by and slapped their commentary on top of the "nabobs of negatism" mission statement.

Hispanics in Seminole Heights

There is a discussion going on Never Take It All that led me do some research about our population breakdowns.

I went to the census website to get some numbers.

2000 Census
City of Tampa
Population 303,447
2004 estimate 306,547
Race/ethnicity Numbers - % of total
White 194,871 - 64.2
Black or African American 79,118 - 26.1

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 58,522 -19.3
2004 estimate 67,488

In Central Tampa and Seminole Heights the numbers differ

In the maps below the darker green the color the higher percentage of hispanics, the lighter yellow the lesser percentage.

As you can see, there is a very large percentage of hispanics to the west of Seminole Heights ranging from 30 to 50% of the population with a pocket of 58 to 74%. On the average, most of Seminole Heights has 11- 20% and southern Seminole Heights has 21-34%. Bear in mind these are 2000 percentages. Based on the 2004 estimates and my visual observations, these percentages could be higher.

Later I will report on the white black percentages.

Whole Dog Journal

As dog lovers, Susan and I want to know as much as possible about issues affecting our dog, more than we get told by a vet. The best source of infomration we have found is The Whole Dog Journal. It is described as "A monthly guide to natural dog care and training. "But our stated goal expressed in the mission statement that appears below is to offer useful, dog-friendly information that helps owners help their dogs. Our unstated mission (one that should be apparent due to our intentional lack of advertising) is to provide reliable information on topics you can't find in mainstream publications, where, in consideration of conventional, commercial interests (which contribute the vast majority of advertising dollars), hardly anything appears that runs counter to conventional practice."

They review wet and dry dog food every year, dog toys, treatments for various illnesses conventional and holistic, dog training and lots more. We have found it to be very helpful. Early this year both of our dogs develooped a hacking sneezing cough that lasted for days. We wondered if there was something we could give thme that would soothe thier throat. Our very good vet said no. As it turns out there is something does that, which we just read about in Whole Dog Journal.

Here are some recent articles:

January 2006

A Super (But Secret) Industry
We’re fans of wet pet food, but that hasn’t (yet) gotten us into a factory!

Language Barrier
Learn how to avoid “saying” the wrong thing to a dog.

Don’t Despair; Just Care
Holistic care and home support are effective for treating canine cancer.

Adoption Advice
Here’s how to make your new dog’s adoption work for life.

Aged to Perfection
Older dogs benefit from developments in veterinary geriatric medicine.

December 2005

Come to Me, Run to Me
To teach your dog perfect recalls, use praise, practice, and more practice!

Fending Off the Flu
It’s not neccessary to put your dog in solitary because of viral threats.

Conventional Cancer Care
Many well-known and new treatments are helping canine cancer patients.

Can We All Just Get Along?
A lot of normal dog “play” behavior looks scary to people.

To Crop and Dock? Or Not?
Some canine physical therapists say that dogs suffer from amputations.

Positively the Best
WDJ’s all-time favorite books on positive dog training.

2 Sample articles you can read online are

Sit Happens
After you learn how easy the positive approach to training really is, you’ll never push a pup’s butt to the floor again!

Toy Story
WDJ institutes a new grading system for reviewed products: 1-4 Paws.

In Future Issues
Here are some of the special reports and test comparison features we're working on for future issues of Whole Dog Journal.

Targeted Goal
“Targeting” is more than just a cute trick; you can use it to teach your dog many vital skills (and lots of other cute tricks!)

Brains of the Operation
The Tour of the Dog looks at the central nervous system.

Annual Dry Dog Food Review
What’s in the bag (and how you can tell whether it will be good for your dog).

Preventing Canine Cancer
The least-considered tool in the fight against canine cancer.

Training with a ZAP!
Shock collars are marketed as effective, simple, and humane training tools. We agree with only one of those words: marketed.

The Whole Dog Journal is available by subscription for $29 a year for 12 issues. It is well worth the money.

Next Seminole Heights Business Guild Meeting

The Business Guild of Seminole Heights (B'GoSH) will hold its next
General Meeting at 7pm on Jan. 19, 2006, at A.W. Windhorst Lodge.
Business Owners, Artists and all parties interested in Seminole Heights
are encouraged to attend.

The meeting will discuss a variety of topics and will include a
presentation from B'GoSH's By-Laws Committee, which will address the
committee's progress on the internal structuring of the organization.
At the meeting, attendees will have a chance to offer their input on
the new committees that will be influencing such projects as the
beautification of Seminole Heights and the development of marketing and
financial assistance for the area's business district(s).

A.W. Windhorst Lodge is located in Seminole Heights at 5011 N. Nebraska
Ave. (on the southeast corner of Caracas Ave. & Nebraska Ave.)

Don't Mess with Seminole Heights Resident Armando Corces

In the Tribune and other news outlets, is a story about a 90 year old Seminole Heights resident, Armando Corces, fought with an car jacker in the parking lot of our Publix on Monday, December 26.

(In the Trib)

"Armando Corces drove to the Publix, at 6001 N. Nebraska Ave., shortly before 3 p.m. Monday to buy brown paper to mail a package to his son. The man who accosted Corces as he walked toward the store was identified by police as Johnny Lee Jones, 25, of 1506 E. Comanche Ave. Another shopper intervened and Jones ran, police said. Officers arrested him nearby on a charge of carjacking."

(On WTSP)

"Armando Corces, 90-Years-Old:
"..started walking here and he come up on me, I want your key, said the hell you're going to have that key. Grabbed my arm and I said you're gonna have to fight me and I pushed him around."

The feisty 90-year-old took on a larger, stronger, 25-year-old.

Armando Corces:
"We fought for about five minutes, back and forth. He was trying to grab the key, so I put it in my pocket, finally was able to reach in my pocket and get the key. Tried to keep him from getting in the car so wrestled with him he pushed me and I fell down here."

But the carjacker bent Armando's key so he couldn't start the car.

Another guy in the parking lot saw the struggle and pulled the man out of Armando's car. The suspect took off and police caught up with him a few blocks away."

So far in the news stories I've seen, the shopper who intervened was not identified.

Johnny Lee Jones, DOB: 12/4/80 was arrested on 12/26/05 at 15th St. and Giddens. He is in jail with no bond. This joker of course has a long history of arrests, including battery on a police officer, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, petit theft, driving with a license suspended or revoked, loitering or prowling, and more. He has lived in Seminole Heights for years. Perhaps this time he will get some serious prison time. Perhaps we can get him banned from Seminole Heights, just like Willie Findley was sent to prison to follow with probation and banishment.

Moral of the Story: Don't mess with Seminole Heights. Even our 90 year old neighbors can kick your butt.

Snipe Sign King - 2 weeks ago I drove by Kmart and counted more than 80 of these signs posted in the City right of way all around the Kmart at Waters and Florida. This has been going on for months now. How could the City not see it themselves and fined the heck out of Kmart? I am not impressed.

Crime Things

Some recent crime things.

1. I received this email:

I know you talk about crime prevention on your blog so I thought I would tell you about an incident that happened today. This afternoon, shortly after 5pm, there was a green Mercury mini-van parked in front of our house. We live on North Street, between Florida and Central. I had not noticed it at that point but a neighbor stopped by with the make of the car and it's license plate (New York tag). There was a single mid to late 40's latino male, about 5'6, medium build. The car was parked across the street from our house yesterday for a while and neither my neighbor nor I have ever seen the car before yesterday. The suspicious part is that as soon as my neighbor came by, the guy started packing up. The other suspicious thing was, he had the jack out in front on the car. There were no flat tires and the car wasn't off the ground, just had the jack pushed under the front end. As soon as he saw me look out my window, he put the jack in the car and started up and drove away. I didn't see any oil stains or indication of any leaks and the car had no trouble starting. Just wanted people in the neighborhood to be on the lookout. It could be legit or it could be something else. We just got a strange feeling about it

.

I think strange, funny or odd feelings are important things to pay attention to. Things that are out of the ordinary always bear paying attention to. Sometimes it is nothing or something innocent but sometimes it is not. Some of these things I report to police and some I just note mentally or write down. Sometimes I just watch a little bit longer to see how things play out.

Some of the more common words in my Neighborhood Watch vocabulary are suspicious vehicle, suspicious behavior/activity, or suspicious person. I call the police when anything meets that criteria. How do you define suspicious? Well generally it is self evident.

Note when you call police to report suspicious behavior use the words suspicious in your call. If I called the police and just said there is some man parked across the street and I would like you to check it out they give me some resistance. However, if I said there is some suspicious activity occurring across the street, then they will respond. It also helps, I'm for mew to identify myself as a neighborhood watch member, as it gives me more credibility. (By the way, always ask the police operator for the event number. That way you can be assured your call will be logged and dispatched.)

2. Another email item I received, this from a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator:

Yesterday about 3 PM there was a 5’8”-5’9” black male wearing a white t-shirt and housing jean shorts. He was skinny with short hair. He spoke with a Jamaican accent. He was walking N on 13th toward Crawford. He asked one of the female neighbors who was walking her dog where he could catch the 9. She told him to go back to Sligh and turn right. He continued toward her and began exposing himself. She had a large and, at time, not nice dog. The man kept eyeing the dog and finally ran S on 13th. He did not follow the directions given to him about how to catch the 9.

We had this problem several years ago, but here we go again. If anyone has seen this man, please call the TPD at 231-9254 or District 2 at 931-6500.

It's too bad the dog did not play tug of war with the guy.

Silver Linings

Well, it looks like we have another new store in Seminole Heights. Silver Linings. It is 2 doors down from Tampa Antiquarian Books between the dog grooming place and the barber shop. It looks like they might have gift items/home decors things. I'm not completely sure if they are open or not