If I remember rightly those are the starting lines of a "Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.
I thought they are appropriate to describe this time of year.
First you have the best like the 9 year old girl on learning of another 9 year old being abused set up a road side stall then presented a cheque to the Police to give to the other 9 year old.
Then there were the group of swimmers & an off duty police officer who came to the aid of a lone police officer being attacked by two individuals caught in a stolen vehicle.
Unfortunately, especially when you work the likes of security you see all the other side of this time of year.
There is the stress people come under to buy gifts when like this year the financial crisis has hit hard, then you add in things locally like the Canterbury Earthquakes or the Pike River Mine disaster & people are really stressed.
Crime goes up at this time of the year too & stress means more of it This is despite the reports that though some crime rose after the Canterbury Earthquakes other dropped. Actually that is only reported crime. People are reporting even less now as they think the police have enough to do or as the recovery process is so slow they have lost faith in the authorities.
Though in saying that the night of the 26th December after the most recent largish aftershocks was the most strangely silent I have ever heard Christchurch.
Giving Freely: The Truth about Tithing and the Supernatural Power in Spirit-Led Giving
Didn't last long though. I see the police caught one looter & one person breaching their cordons. Then within minutes of each other two vehicles decided Hayton Road was their own private drag strip & instead of the posted 50km an hour went through at about 150km an hour. They weren't boyracers either. Then a SUV doing the same coming the other way almost immediately.
It is common along the road but usually it is one vehicle every so often throughout a day.
Yet again it appears domestic violence is up as it also appears as is normal for this time of year assaults & armed robberies. That is just the reported ones.
The Tithe-Proctor
Then last night things in this area took a normal turn of events for this time of year.
Was reading a book when I noticed a cyclist who was acting suspicious. Later realized why I noticed them, they were cycling very slowly along the wrong side of the road just having come around a very dangerous corner that everyone speeds around. They then cycled up onto the footpath but appeared to go into a business.
Moved to a better position to observe & yes that is what they were doing. cycling along slowly & every so often they would cycle into a business for about a minute or two then back out. Considering the time of year most are closed at present & it was at night.
The Tithing War
Then I made the mistake of calling police communications(comms-remember these are not police officers you are talking too)to report the suspicious activity.
Explained why I thought it was suspicious - business area with very few operational at this time of year(in fact many empty) person cycling into premises for short periods then out so likely either casing premises or tagging. Person was wearing white cycle helmet with light blue Skivvy/top appeared to be a male.
Questions asked went like how tall? He's cycling! So which way is he walking? He's cycling! What did he look like? They cycled past so didn't see, just there was something suspicious in their movements(based on experience).
Basically a waste of time.
A Guide to Medieval English Tithe Barns
Some time later(about an hour & a half) a burglar alarm went off at one of the few operational sites in the area though at present not much happening. The regular security patrol didn't appear to show up or if they did they didn't carryout a full check as they normally do. The alarm finally went off(under the resource management act they are required to turn off after a certain time period-15 minutes & this went for at least that long) then about 10 minutes later a police patrol cruised through that site & out.
Was there a burglary? Don't know. We do know that burlgars case their targets & had the person at comms, not mucked around with silly questions a patrol in the area oculd of just put enough doubt in the minds of anyone looking to commit a burglary to have them move elsewhere.
Having driven security patrols in this area I know it gets hit often & that was even after been told that burglaries in this area had dropped 51% since the arrest of two people as part of a murder investigation(one was convicted of murder the other receiving stolen goods from memory). That drop off was soon taken up by others often using boyracer activities as cover to commit their burglaries.
Yes it was the best of times in some regards due to peoples actions, but shouldn't we be doing that all the time instead of addding stress to people at one certain time of the year?
Last thought though is not much thought has really gone into tonights New Years celebrations in the Square. The damage since the aftershocks on the 26th December should of said to them 'lets move this to Hagley park' but no just like in 'Jaws' they want to believe all is well.
If it was a terrorist threat I would agree. Just increase your security by arming security & police then searching everyone in. Thorough check of the area prior & limited vehicles access after bomb search.
But in dealing with Papatuanuku(mother earth) is a whole different ball game.
Considering people where said to leave a mall in a recent well felt aftershock screaming, what would happen if a shake happens tonight?
By way of warning there was a wee shake of 2.8 at 12.03am this morning centred about 1 kilometre from the Square.
It is not about trying to scare people but carrying out proper risk assessments. Basically with the possiblity of aftershocks an open park with some trees or a square surrounded by buildings that have already had parts fall off them?
Whats that saying about commonsense not been very common!
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
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