Mayberry, California?

Our city, population 45,000, has been considering contracting with the county for police services and no longer operating/funding its own police force. Revenues are tight for California cities these days, and all avenues are being explored to save costs.

We received the latest city Neighborhood Watch Newsletter, reporting 15 burglaries citywide for May, June and July 2003. Ten occurred through unlocked doors and windows; 4 involved the use of force, although none resulted in injuries; 3 entailed minimal or unknown losses; 7 were in morning, 3 in afternoon and just 5 were at night.

The most serious burglary losses were described as follows:
- US currency, carton of cigarettes, 15 CDs and a tree saw

- backpack, Game Boy, Harry Potter books and hearing aids (That kid thought the hearing aids were ear phones for the Game Boy.)

- air conditioner (Stolen at night. Must have been quite hot that night.)

- digital pictures (Would be interesting to know what was in those pics. Was that really a random burglary?)

- Sony digital receivers, 2 Play Stations, DVD player, telephone

- cell phone, bottled water, Top Ramen cup-o-noodles (It really says that.)

It's hard to imagine that this low level need for law enforcement justifies the cost of an entire police force. If citizens had locked their doors and windows, only 5 of these burglaries would have occurred in the 3-month time span.

Send emails to DeborahWhite@UniqueRecipes.com.