The snow is melted and that means it is prime burglary season. Here’s a story from Indiana where a homeowner’s security camera captured the bad guys in action:

The video obtained exclusively by Channel 13 shows the woman suspect knocking on the door. She does nothing to hide her face, so police suspect the couple has no idea they are being recorded by a home security camera.

Moments later her male companion is caught on tape looking in through a front door window pane. You can see him knock on the door and then he turns backwards and gives the door a swift kick, forcing their way in.

Many have heard about how Minneapolis is now going to hold property owners accountable if they violate rental licensing standards. Their name and address will appear on the Internet for anyone to see. http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/inspections/accountable.asp Hoping the fear of embarrassment will make them shape up.

This reflection on the crime problem in New Orleans seems to apply to Minneapolis. At least some parts, anyway:

A terrible, horrible crime occurs. The city gets up in arms. March on City Hall. Demand change. We're mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore! Editorials bray against the madness. Politicians bloviate. Time passes. Nothing changes.
…
When — and how — do we really change? When do we stop frantically looking for answers under the same sofa cushions we've looked under hundreds of times before? Schools. Playgrounds. Jobs.

As the Income Tax filing deadline approaches, we at the Eastside Defender remind the bad guys that, according to IRS Publication 17, their booty is subject to tax:

From the U.K. comes this story of pro-active crime prevention:

Officers have begun testing windows and doors at night as part of a campaign to increase home security.

If they find one open, they are under orders to knock on the door and drag sleepy residents from their beds and lecture them.

We’ve had ideas to improve this website since we began back in 2007.

For example, it would be useful to incorporate stuff—like arrest info—that used to go out as part of the NECP Weekly Update. The format for posting Criminal Impact Statements could be improved. And beyond making the Eastside Defender more useful as a hub of information, it could look better.

This morning I saw a pair of youths going door-to-door down my block. They were skipping houses and peering through windows at the doors they did approach. Last time this happened, I did not call 911.

I was awakened yesterday morning by a knock on my door. It was about 9:30 am. By the time I got my wits about me, the knockers had moved on to the house next door. I could see them quite well from my front window.

I checked my door, and there was no literature left there. They did not appear to be security system salespeople, and were not well-dressed like the various evangelists that troll our neighborhoods.

From the 2nd Precinct:

Facts:
On September 25, there were five burglaries or attempted burglaries of garages in the area between 30th and 31st Avenues NE and between Hayes and Cleveland Streets NE.

What you can do:

1. Call 911 if you hear strange noises or see suspicious behavior in the alley.

KSTP-TV has the story:

Police pulled hundreds of pot plants from a duplex at 1815 Johnson St. in northeast Minneapolis Tuesday night and arrested Andrew Hankee, 33, without incident.

"This is about half of 234 plant bust and had a street value of $250,000," said Officer Jeff Carter.

Every neighbor 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke to say they were stunned watching police pull grow lights and marijuana plants from the basement of the home.

Gabby’s court win makes Northeast-based Girl Friday smile. She trots out several of the standard excuses for the harm resulting from Gabby’s operations:

That, or they had no tangible proof that the City was trying to shut Gabby's down because of the patrons. (After dark, Gabby's turns into a predominantly black, hip hop nightclub). It probably sucks living across the street from a nightclub, but that's both the beauty and the hazard of living in Northeast. There's a bar on nearly every corner, and you just have to put up with the bar-close noise. Plus, Gabby's has been there a long time. Probably longer than many of the folks who live there now.

Instapundit comments on a court ruling which said NYC subway workers are not obligated to take action to stop a rape:

A Queens judge ruled yesterday that subway employees do not have to do anything but pick up their phones if they see a crime — as he threw out a suit against the MTA and two workers who did nothing more to stop a rape.

A court has ruled that Gabby’s is not responsible for its patrons’ behavior once they leave the property:

In 2006, city licensing officials began meeting with the owners of the bustling business at 1900 NE Marshall St. to discuss customers' littering, urinating in public, yelling, and playing loud music in cars.

In February 2008, the city, backed by a ruling from an administrative law judge, fined Gabby's $25,000, ordered it to reduce maximum occupancy to 438 from 689, eliminate drink specials and create a new management plan.

Vox Day reflects on last weekend’s murder of three Oakland police officers:

First, notice how the parolee was armed with an "assault" rifle, whatever that's supposed to mean. I somehow doubt he was armed with an M-16 on full-auto. Second, the SWAT teams aren't anywhere nearly as invulnerable as they'd like Americans to believe they are; it's a little tougher taking down an armed criminal who knows you're after him than killing an elderly woman in her sleep during a no-knock raid in the middle of the night.

A favorite memory of my time walking the 55418 with the Northeast Citizen Patrol is a conversation with a couple of cops. The officers were telling us true stories of dumb criminals. After several laughable tales, one of the cops joked, “We don’t catch ‘em because we’re smart.”

Well, TJIC pointed to the sad truth of that wisecrack:

Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took an exam to join the New London police, in Connecticut, in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125.

But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.