Crime In Baristaville Gives Me the Creeps

I shivered last night when I took my dog out. I looked over my shoulder, and I surveyed the sidewalks of Bloomfield Avenue where I live. I had a feeling a monster–maybe that scary lady at Mountain Auto Body–was right behind me with a car jack in her hand.

I had the creeps.

I used to get the creeps when I lived on 27th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. The neighborhood was great, but my building was right across from a park where hookers and druggies camped out at night. I got used to them–but if a new druggie hooker showed up, I’d get the creeps.

This is why I moved to Montclair. I wanted to feel just a little safer while walking my dog. Oh, yeah, and I wanted a safer community for my kids.

After four serious crimes around town just in February, I don’t feel that safe.

Here are 4 incidents that happened in February as reported by Baristanet:

• Shooting at Sunoco. Sunday, February 22, at about 5 p.m., 29-year-old Daniel Pritchard was shot and killed during a robbery. I wonder if he’s the nice guy who would full up my minivan when I’m on the way to King’s.
• Fake Utility Worker Trying to Get Into Homes. The Montclair Police Department confirmed that a black male posed as a utility worker to get into a local home to “check the water and furnace.” He did not succeed.
• Shooting at a Montclair Chinese Restaurant. There’s an uncomfirmed report that someone was shot at a Chinese restaurant in Montclair.
• Armed Robbery on Valentine’s Day.  A man wearing a ski mask and holding a handgun went into Bob’s Cleaners on Orange Road and $100 from the cash register.

My family is on high alert. I’m holding their hands tighter. We’re making sure we don’t forget to lock the doors.

And I feel like I should walk the dog with cayenne pepper spray in my hands. I just have to be careful. With my luck, I’ll pepper spray myself instead of the perpetrator. I have accidentally pepper sprayed myself before, but that’s a whole other story.

Are you feeling uneasy with all of this criminal activity?