By Charles Layton
This week’s most notable crime in Ocean Grove was, of course, the destruction by vandals of the gazebo in Firemen’s Park. If you missed that story, go here and here to read our coverage.
Neighborhood Watch also reports the following incidents this past week:
- A vehicle was stolen from the area of Heck Avenue. It had been left unlocked with the keys inside in plain view.
- Police had two reports of lawn ornaments taken from residents’ property. This continues the rash of such offenses in Ocean Grove in recent weeks.
- A purse was stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked on Embury Avenue.
- Police received several reports of suspicious people and suspicious behavior in the Grove. Neptune Police urges everyone to report anything suspicious to the police immediately via 9-1-1.
There are some things we can’t control. That said, there are some things we can. Leaving a purse in an unlocked (or locked) car is an invitation to trouble. Leaving your car unlocked with the keys in it is almost like saying, “help yourself.”
People everywhere, not just in the Grove, have to be mindful of what they do.
Don’t make it easier for a potential criminal to “help themselves.”
Where are the police in Ocean Grove? Do the criminals know Ocean Grove is an easy target? Why are there not more arrests in Ocean Grove?
Is opening and digging up the street without the proper permits not a crime.? That act hit a gas main that caused the evacuation of the entire block with interruption of gas service for many hours. It could have caused an explosion that would have destroyed anything nearby. Thanks to police, firemen and EMT’S for once again assisting the folks on Surf Avenue and the entire surrounding area.
Appellation, the gas company survey had that gas main at 27 Surf diagrammed on their surveys as being 12 inches lower in the ground than it was. One of the issues we face in dealing with an antique town is antique surveys and plans and undocumented utility pipes and the like when the ground is opened up. That is not a crime; utility maps and surveys were not considered as important back in the days of their original installation as they are today.
As for “where the police are,” if you leave your car unlocked with the keys or your purse inside, well, you’re tempting fate. I was in a police vehicle for the homecoming parade today and while listening to the dispatch radio, other areas of town are experiencing the same thefts of lawn ornaments and senseless acts of vandalism as the Grove.
It’s happening in every section of our town and in just about every other town in this county.
Overnight someone put a flyer for a business in Asbury Park in the driver’s door handle of my car. Does Neptune Township have an ordinance prohibiting leaving flyers on vehicles and houses in residential areas? If not, they should. It should include a hefty fine to the business doing this. Given all of the break-ins of cars no one should be allowed to touch car door handles or any of part of a car. This is a way to check if the cars are locked. They should also not be allowed to leave flyers on properties. In addition to being a security issue, the flyers are left on the street and go down the storm drains.