A neighborhood in Arlington Heights, IL is on edge after a woman was sexually assaulted and robbed in her home one night at 2am. It's natural for people to be fearful and look for answers after an event like that. What's not usual is the "solution" they seem to have decided on. Yes, it's come to this. Garage sales must be banned to keep us safe.
http://www.dailyherald.com/...
Residents spoke to the village board about a few homes that are having many weekend garage sales that bring strangers into the neighborhood.
"Our streets are flooded with cars and strangers," said neighbor Patti Filardi.
Nicole Eddy, a resident who said her house was broken into in July, said police had a hard time talking to neighbors about whether they saw anything suspicious because so many people were on the streets attending garage sales.
"It creates a concern if you have a lot of strangers coming around. How do you know who is a stranger because they are stopping at this little garage sale or a stranger canvassing the neighborhood to see what they might do under cover of darkness?" Trustee Robin LaBedz said.
Yep, you read that right. If garage sales are allowed in a neighborhood, that just creates cover for criminals to case the neighborhood and hide in plain sight. And clearly the police will be unable to determine if anyone suspicious was lurking about at 2am because of the number of thrift shoppers out and about at noon the day before.
Having everyone lock themselves away from the street inside their homes will not address crime. Trying to seal off a neighborhood from the outside world will not address crime. Burglars do not make the rounds at garage sales to case the joint, it's ridiculous to even think so. What a cowardly and fear based society we have become when banning garage sales is viewed as the proper response to a home invasion. If anything, the sort of face to face interaction between neighbors that is strengthened by such sales will make the community more tightly knit and aware of security issues.
Crime is a natural risk of living in a free and open society. But we cannot address the problem of crime by making ourselves less free.