There are many Neighborhood Watch pages for San Pedro on Facebook, thanks in the most part to Councilman Joe Buscaino.

I am taking an interest in all of this, so I want to share a "summary" of sorts of what problems I see reported, that we need to watch for!

One of the most frequent problems in San Pedro: people attempting to get in, ask for something, selling something, borrowing something, looking around, and we've seen so many variations of this.  We have to start questioning EVERYONE coming into our neighborhoods.

In South Shores, there are reports of a group (4 people with shopping carts and a fifth standing nearby in the street as a lookout) of people in the middle of the night (2:30 a.m. last week) on trash nights, going thoroughly through all of our trash containers and those of our neighbors too.  Residents have spoken with Senior Lead Officers and they are aware of the problem. They say that these people are not just looking for recyclables but for credit cards receipts etc as well as unlocked cars. The police need our help to find them - please call 1 877 ASKLAPD if anyone sees them and call in their location.

There is a guy in an RV or Van, with blankets all over it is parked on the SW corner of 32nd and Kerckhoff right in front of Point Fermin Elementary's school yard. Parents and staff of school have made numerous calls to LAPD. They did come out when the guy became uncooperative with DOT (he's parked in the red zone). He told the police his vehicle is broken down and he's trying to fix it. But children came home from school recently and reported that he brought his tan or brown, puppy/dog to the fence at lunch time; and has been chatting with a bunch of the 3rd graders. Please keep your eyes on him and call/report if he is acting suspiciously, like the morning when he was sitting in a lawn chair on the sidewalk and trying to chat with kids/parents.

The other night I saw someone riding his bike on Vallecito, going East, shining a flashlight on the houses/driveways.
Later I read that indeed a guy is doing this to steal recyclables, break into cars or break into homes. Or more...

Another post on Facebook alerted us to new "M.O." - kids in groups going door to door asking if they can have a drink of water, then they have (or plan to) break in or rush the person at the door.

Then there is the new twist on the grab & run - kids on skateboards or bikes that rush past someone in a parking lot or on a sidewalk, grabbing at purses, or looking in cars, or trying the handles of car doors. Stealing what they can based on what they can get away with.

So, while many of us are using email and social media to be armed and aware of events and crimes around us, many are still not plugged in, whether it be age or economic or other reasons.

Don't let your friends or elderly relatives remain in the dark.

Print out issues or warnings on cards or half sheets of paper and give it to them or put on their cars. Specially if you see them leaving something worth stealing in plain view!

Get involved!