Drunk Driving:

Do yourself a big favor. Do us an even bigger favor. Follow these steps when you go into a bar or drink at a friend’s house.

· Drink as much as you want. And then call a cab or a friend for a ride home. You should never go out drinking unless you have enough Cab money in your purse or wallet for a ride home. If you don’t set that money aside you’ll be tempted to drive. My dad used to always tell me to put a $100.00 bill under my license in my wallet for emergencies. I do it to this day. You can modify that practice to avoid a D.U.I. arrest. Put a $20.00 bill under your license and keep it there for emergency cab fare. That 5 or 10 dollar cab fare WILL save you thousands of dollars. I’m not going to beg you to believe me. If you’re smart, you’ll put a 20.00 bill in there right now. If not, and you should decide to take a chance on driving, YOU WILL GET STOPPED AND ARRESTED. It’s just a matter of time.

(Just so you know, drinking coffee before you drive is nothing more than a myth. It does nothing to sober you up. You don’t see me sticking my neck out by saying it’s OK to have only one drink and then drive.) That’s because everyone’s metabolism is different. Amount of sleep, food intake, medications, medical history, and tolerance to alcohol, all play a part in how much one can safely drink in a time frame. The truth is, in an era where there is zero tolerance to drunk driving, it does not take much alcohol at all, to get up to California’s limit of .08. Zero tolerance means zero options if you never want to get arrested for D.U.I. The only safe option is to not drink and drive. Period!

Here are some safe options to LIVE BY: (Nothing that you haven’t already heard.)

· Use a designated driver! (One that totally refrains from drinking. It’s embarrassing when the designated driver gets arrested and blows a .10 on the machine!) I knew a group of guys that had just gotten out of college that loved to live it up on the weekends. 5 of them. They rotated designated driving responsibilities EVERY friday night when they went out. They always had a blast, and they often offered rides to others that were intoxicated and planning to drive. They were ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE and I respect that.

· Drink non-alcoholic beverages. You can still go to a bar, socialize, throw darts, dance, meet people, and have fun. If you’re driving home afterwards, you’d best heed this advice or your fun is going to be very short lived. There is nothing wrong with drinking non-alcoholic beer, 7-up, ginger ale, juice, ice water, or whatever.

· I see numerous people walking home at 2:00am from our downtown area, and I worry about them being able to walk in a straight line but, I’d rather see that, over them getting behind the wheel of a car!

If I don’t have anything going on I try to reward these people with a quick ride home. If you have no other alternative and you live reasonably close by, then WALK instead of Drive!

· I’LL often cruise through the parking lot of some of the bars after they close and I’ll see a car or 2 with the windows fogged up. Sometimes with the engine running for heating purposes. The driver is sound asleep inside. The intent is good but is it a recommendation. No.

All to often the sleeping intoxicated driver will wake up in discomfort and decide to drive home. Still Intoxicated! Plus you never know who is going to be knocking on your car window at 3am. What if it was someone other than a cop checking on your welfare? What if it was someone who saw you as being an easy target? Sleeping it off in your car? We don’t recommend it.

One of my favorite sayings is that “Every Action causes a Reaction.” This holds true for everything in life. In regards to drunk driving your actions decide on how your night will go.

Use discretion, common sense, and follow some of the simple suggestions listed above and you’ll never, I repeat never have any problems getting home in one piece. (Unless a drunk driver runs into you.)

Disregard the law, use poor judgment, utilize poor common sense, and present a hazard to innocent motorist and pedestrians? The answer comes in the form of a very accurate bumper sticker.

“You Drink and Drive – We’ll provide the CHASER!”

What can you do to prevent being victimized by the drunk driver? You can help yourself by helping us in getting drunk drivers off the road.

· Don’t let your friends or relatives drive drunk. Take the keys, drive them home, call them a cab, or as a last resort call us. You’re not snitching your friend off, and we’re not looking to make an arrest unless your friend makes it onto a roadway.

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Drug Sales & Drug Activity:

What can you do?

· Contact your local Police or Sheriffs Department to arrange a neighborhood watch group.

· Report ALL suspicious activity or EXCESSIVE traffic to houses all hours of day and night.

· Odd or unusual smells of chemicals in neighborhood (before I was a cop, I lived right behind a methamphetamine lab without realizing it. It could have taken out 4 square blocks of houses if it blew up including my wife’s day care)

· Call in a DETAILED description of people you suspect of dealing drugs on the street. A DETAILED description will give the officer the right to approach a specific person.

· Report where drugs are being stored. Dealers often keep their dope nearby but not on them. Usually in a trash can, a bush or a vehicle. If we get a good description of the dealer AND where the dope is, (even anonymous) the dealer goes with me in handcuffs.

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Drive by Shootings:

· Watch for groups gathering or forming near your house. Gangs are usually unmistakable in the clothing they wear, but with increasing gang enhancement penalties, some try to avoid police detection by only wearing some articles of clothing that shows their "colors". Such as a blue bandanna, a red belt, etc. Tattoos and graffiti are big with gangs, usually 13 or 14, or XIV or X111, are signs of gang activity. There are so many branches and trickle-down gangs formed; it would be impossible to even try to name them all. Gangs can be any race, age, sex, or combination.

· If you see groups hanging out, especially if "tagging" starts to occur, (tagging means spray painting or marking walls, fences, etc. with gang logo), this is a dangerous start. The gang is "marking their turf" and your neighborhood becomes a battlefield if rival gangs come into the area.

· Keep an eye out for drug activity in your neighborhood. If you notice dealers starting to loiter on the street corners, or in front of a drug house, call the police. Once dealers become established in the area, they are hard to get rid of. The neighborhood also becomes the target of a hostile and often deadly takeover. Drug dealers are only after one thing. $M$O$N$E$Y$. And if your neighborhood is producing alot of sales, which translates into money, it becomes a prime target for drive-bys to claim the area.

· Call the police, form neighborhood watch groups, keep control of your neighborhood. Drug dealers and gangs will only gather where they are allowed to. We don’t expect you or your neighbors to move the groups on, or to confront the groups, that would be dangerous. Call the police; explain if you have suspected gang members gathering, or if you have drug dealing going on in front of your house. Report any weapons or drugs seen, and who is holding drugs or weapons, or where they are hidden. You can remain anonymous.

· Believe me, if the dealers or gangs have the police moving them along, or arresting them everytime they gather in your neighborhood, they will find somewhere else to gather. Somewhere people don’t care, where they can peddle their dope, shoot off their guns, gamble and drink in the streets. Somewhere where no one calls the police. The choice is yours. Gangs and drug dealing almost always invite shootings, violence, noise, fights and the decline of a once nice neighborhood.

· It’s never too late to take back your neighborhood, I see it all the time. When the pressure is on, the gangs and dealers move on to easier pickings.

· Contact your local Police Department or Sheriff’s Office for more information on neighborhood watch programs. A good neighborhood watch group with neighbors who care really does work. Besides, whose neighborhood is it? Yours, or the drug dealers from across town trying to set up shop? You CAN make the difference………

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Domestic Violence

Here are some tips on domestic violence:

· Abuse can be verbal. Just as painful and damaging as physical abuse. Don’t let verbal abuse drag you down where you lose self-confidence or self-respect. Eventually, the abuse will turn physical. Without self-confidence, the situation will be harder to get out of. If you are in a situation with verbal abuse, get help now before it gets worse.

· With physical abuse, once is too much. Don’t let a “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again” satisfy you. It WILL happen again, it is just a matter of time. Call someone; report the incident to the police. Even if you do not want to prosecute, you can document the incident in case of future incidents. Some states have a Must Arrest law regarding domestic violence, where if you are injured, the responsible spouse will be arrested.

· Don’t let fear control you. You CAN get out of an abusive relationship. There is help with everything from child care to financial assistance to shelters. The longer you stay in an abusive relationship, the harder it will be for you to get out. Like I have said many times, NO ONE deserves to be in a relationship where there is verbal or physical abuse.

· If you do not feel comfortable going to the police, tell a friend, a relative, a priest, anyone. Let them make the call. Domestic abuse is a crime, and ever since the famous O.J. Simpson case, domestic violence laws have been updated with increased penalties.

· If you are in an abusive relationship, remember that you are not the problem and you are not alone. It is not your fault. So many people in abusive relationships eventually believe that they are the cause of the abuse, that they deserve the abuse. This is when it makes it difficult to escape an abusive relationship.

· Call for help. There are phone numbers in phone books, at police stations, and sheriff departments. Help is only a phone call away. Have a friend or relative give you assistance.

· Remember that domestic violence is a crime, it is against the law. It is a vicious cycle that will repeat itself over and over if allowed to do so. Let’s not have our children grow up thinking that violence and abuse is a way of life.

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