Neighborhood Watch

So our housekeeper pops by about an hour ago to drop off some laundry and asks to use the phone because she wants to call the police. Waaaa? She goes on to explain that there is a suspicious looking fellow on a bike paying too much attention to the parked cars down the street and 'he does not live in this neighborhood.' So I hand her the phone, she dials the police and describes the guy and his bike: black pants, green shirt, 20 something on a black bicycle and his location on 5 de Mayo. Sure enough, half hour later a police pick up arrives at the station with the guy handcuffed in the back and his bike. I guess the neighborhood watch program is working.

Yeah! and good for your housekeeper. I wish we had neighborhood watch out here in SJC.

I don't care what anyone says about the Chapala Policia, they always seem to get their man. There was that other post this morning about the gunman in the plaza and sure enough they got those guys as well. It would seem that just about every crime I have read about on this forum, within days (and usually minutes or hours) they have caught the perps. I only wish they were as efficient here in Vancouver.

In Ajijic we fear for the safety of our belongings so feel the need to engage house sitters when we head for Chiapas as we do semi-annually. In San Cristóbal de Las Casas it is general community knowledge that the cops are at best worthless and at worst dangerous thieves and roustabouts and so,for many years before we settled here, locals in our Chiapas barrio took care of themselves and, by implication, their neighbors. These days, we know without hesitation, that our San Cristóbal neighbors in the poor barrio of El Cerrillo where we maintain a house, will not only observe our property meticulously in our absence but will beat the sh*t out of any thief who transgresses there. Our "gringo " neighbors at Lakeside are, typically of Americans and Canadians residing hereabouts, slow to call to action. Our Chiapas neighbors will whip the miscreant´s ass to the point he is begging for the police to salvage what´s left of his butt; our Lakeside neighbors will hide under the nearest rug until the dust has settled. Give me Chiapas any day even considering Sub-Comandante Marcos´ new philosophical musings as published in today´s Chiapas press.

Yeah, the retired people in the Ajijic area would be really good tackling a 20 year old thug, wrestling him to the ground & whipping him within an inch of his life. I know I could.

When I lived in God's waiting room I met a number of old farts who wouldn't be afraid to take on a young punk if necessary. One 80+ crazy nut got robbed and beaten by two such assholes. The police wouldn't do anything despite knowing the identity of the pucks. The old guy asked me if I'd go kick their asses, AND THAT HE WOULD HELP!!! I passed since it wasn't my fight.

No matter where you live, you've got to be willing and able to stand up for yourself - if not then don't complain.