I was on the phone Friday with our new fire chief, Niles Ford. Chief Ford is most recently from Georgia and prior to that Alabama. I asked him how he was adapting to Nebraska's late fall (yes, that's right; winter has yet to begin). He said there have been some challenges. I told him not to worry, this would be all over by June.
It's been a more typical Nebraska December this year. In the first 15 days of the month, we have had snow on 9--including three snows significant enough to require some work with the shovel--or scoop--depending on your preference. That's a far cry from December, 2006 when there was no snowfall at all until a trace blew around on the 22nd. Moreover, the average temperature in the first 15 days of the month last year was 7 degrees warmer than this month's average. Last December, the high temperature in the first 15 days of December included 8 days when it was 50 degrees or better.
The snow and cold may be a bit daunting for Chief Ford, but for Chief Casady, it has a decidedly bright side. Few things slow crime like a good old Nebraska snowstorm, and the three weekend hits this month have been accompanied by 171 fewer Part 1 Crimes--the offenses tracked by the FBI for all the annual statistics. That's a 30% decrease.
Criminals generally don't want too hard or be very uncomfortable. When you look at the "outdoor offenses"--things that require a little walking about in the cold, like auto theft, burglary, and larceny from auto--it's easy to see that the thieves hunker down in the Nebraska winter--er, fall.
Monday, December 17, 2007
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5 comments:
Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! :)
Now, if Ford would just start making a full-time AWD version of the CVPI, you'd be all set.
There was a fire in a townhome in my building yesterday. The firemen/women banged on my door and made me leave my townhouse because i was in the same physical "building" as the fire. It was suprising to walk out and see 5 Fire engines, 2 Police cruisers, plus a number of fire SUVs there. Good to know they weren't about to let my house and the other attached townhomes go up in flames thanks to one careless tenant.
Anyway they put hoses everywhere and of course the parking lot of our complex is one big block of ice anyway thanks to saturday's storm and last weeks Ice, and now the fire trucks are all dripping/leaking/splurging water all over the place. Luckily either the fire teams or the area supervisor decided to bring in quite a lot of gravel afterwards so glad that someone was looking at the situation with enough foresight.
In all, while annoying I found it an OK experience to see some of our emergency teams at work first hand, and a kind LPD officer who was guarding the hoses was nice enough to chat with me for a few minutes. We discussed the fire, the weather of course, and the newly graduated officers. It was great to just have a chat with an officer about some topics (and not have to be scared about getting a ticket or something).
I just thought I would share my story and appreciation for LPD and the Lincoln Fire Teams for being kind and helpful to us in getting matters taken care of quickly, and getting us back in our homes without much trouble.
The moral of the story is I guess, nebraska slings its weather at us all our own ways!
OK, I probably have to admit, I MAY be watching a little too much CSI. But last February, someone tried to break into our garage DURING a snow storm, and was reported to me by our neighbor, which I in turn reported to the police. I'm pretty sure I knew who it was, but as the snow was falling, it covered up shoe prints! I wish I would have covered several of the prints up with a box or something, before they were covered up. May not have helped, but who knows? Just an FYI.
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