My First Neighborhood Watch Meeting

Monday night I went to a neighborhood watch meeting. The idea was to see whether I can get info in the meetings that can help identify good areas to buy. It was also to see how these neighborhood watches can prevent the little crimes like, say, some little jackass breaking into an apartment of Property X. There has to be something more one can do than call do-nothing cops, so I looked to this place to get some answers.

The meeting took place in the basement of a church, and I got there right on time. The second I walked in, all eyes were on me. I didn't realize this, but neighborhood watches are usually made up of old white people. I mean, really old. One lady there was at least 90 years of age. So it's them and then it's me... 6'2”, dark skinned, leather jacket w/hoodie, and a face rife with disdain and anger. This, I thought, cannot possibly go well. It was as if I walked in and they thought, “Look, there's the reason for our neighborhood watch RIGHT THERE!” I took a seat and the meeting started with the group discussing a Public Works project. They basically griped with the Department of Public Works guy about an intersection traffic stop in the neighborhood. I had no idea that installing a cheap traffic light would cost no less than 150K. After that, a uniformed police officer who looked older than all of them read a neighborhood crime stat report for the month of September. I wrote down some some of the streets she named in case I run into a property for sale in that area. And after that, the meeting was over.

All in all, this was a decent experience. They gave a stat that 71% of crimes that happen in areas not watched by the neighborhood watch. So I guess they're good for something. I could have gotten a wealth of information from them, but I still have that... issue. I just hate speaking to people I don't know, especially with “warm reception” I got when I first walked in. People just get on my nerves in general, and I only tolerate speaking to strangers if I get paid... like at work. As comfortable as I am with this policy, things are gonna have to change if I'm gonna learn anything new at either the neighborhood watch or Investors Club meetings. It may look like I'm keeping the assholes at bay, but I'm really shortchanging myself in the end. 

P.S.: I'll probably use these meeting to get an idea of the happenings in the neighborhood to start off. I need to work my way towards actually talking to these people and pretending to like them. I'm at the point in my life where I tolerate the existence of the imbeciles around me under protest. I've got a long way to go before I find them tolerable enough to speak to.