Residents of the Philadelphia neighborhood of Fairmount want “town watch” patrols. They’re so sick of the Democrat endorsed and enabled violence, which has been spiraling totally out of control, that they’re seriously considering the rollout of a vigilante group.
Fairmount Town Watch
Fairmount, Pennsylvania residents are “sick of the violence” and ready to band together a town watch vigilance committee. The latest incident was a shootout with police outside a neighborhood bar which triggered public backlash.
Skyrocketing crime is “a big concern all throughout the city, from armed robberies to carjackings.” That’s why, the community held a meeting “meant to be the first step toward change.”
Bennett Bookstein took the mic to vent what was on his mind. He couldn’t even participate in a charity run on Christmas Day. “A guy came down across the street, just looked at me, said something funny then all of a sudden started hitting me.”
Everyone at the town meeting knew the story or one just like it. “My face, my chest… and I then I got up and I found out from some other runners that I was stabbed also.”
Bookstein wants to see a way to keep that from happening again and wants to know what “the next step is.” The whole town turned out for the meeting with around 80 people in attendance.
The event was put together by residents only hours after “two police officers shot an armed man in the area.” Cops aren’t real happy to be replaced by amateurs but they’ll go along with the idea. “Officers from the 9th District were also at the meeting. They encouraged residents to attend police service area neighborhood meetings.”
An organized neighborhood
The biggest benefit, Anthony Murphy relates is that “town watch organizes neighborhoods and an organized neighborhood impacts on the quality of life. It helps to prevent crime.” He works as a trainer for such vigilance groups throughout the city.
Unlike the thrilling days of yesteryear where citizen patrols carried guns and ropes to dispense justice from the nearest tree, today’s approach is a little different.
Individual neighbors “are meant to start a communication chain where they will notify one another of suspicious activity if they are unable to reach 911.” The town happens to sit in Philadelphia’s 9th Police District, where “aggravated assaults are up more than 70%, while armed robberies quadrupled.” The idea is to take back “one block at a time.”
Vigilante groups are “a tried and tested tool,” so residents are receptive. “There’s not a lot of fear in people that might be taking part in some of these crimes. So I think having that level of ‘there is somebody that’s looking out so you have to like be more careful‘ is a great idea,” one local observed.
Local residents listened approvingly noting that “town watches sound better than doing nothing.” The defunded and overworked police can’t be everywhere at once. “We’re gonna get our neighbors together and see how we can share this information,” one woman promised. New residents Hannah and Lily think the watch patrols are a great idea.
“We’ve always loved Fairmount, we always thought it was a great neighborhood, a very safe neighborhood.” That’s why they were so shocked that on move-in-day there was a shooting “less than a block away from their new home.“
