The majority of Petaluma residents who responded to this week’s online poll said they’re being more cautious to secure their personal belongings in light of a recent uptick in property crimes around town.
About 49 said they were being more careful, while about 42 percent said they were about as cautious as before.
Here were some of the comments.
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“Better vigilant than sorry.”
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“How come 18 residential burglaries in Petaluma in one month, and no communication to us residents in the news until after the one month passed? All we hear about each week are DUI’s, etc., yet no communication to the homeowners in Petaluma about so many residential burglaries? Keep your eyes peeled! If criminals are lurking in our neighborhood, we need to be made aware of them and be cautious.”
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“I’m paranoid and have always been cautious about locking my stuff up.”
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“If the police department lets transients roam around downtown what do you expect? What ever happened to the enforcement of laws about loitering? The transient, if they can’t show they have a means (money or job), then they should be offered a ride to COTS or out of town. Just my opinion.”
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“I had a friend whose handbag was taken from her shopping cart at the new Target while she was looking at an item.”
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“I keep my stuff locked up at all times anyway. People who don’t are just inviting trouble.”
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“I still feel relatively safe, but I am double checking locks these days. I’ve also made a point to get to know my neighbors better, so we can watch out for each other. Ultimately, I’m also prepared to defend myself and my property if a confrontation arises.”
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“It is unfortunate indeed that theft occurs-and even more unfortunate that the moral fiber is breaking down to this new low; however, it seems that the fewer opportunities there are then the less our town will become an easy target for these disrespectful, selfish predators. And then with all that extra ‘prowling’ time on their hands, they can start to look for jobs instead of stealing hard earned belongings of other people.”
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“Perhaps burglary rates would drop if our police would spend more time out patrolling, and getting to know the citizens, instead of harrassing young people and issuing petty traffic and parking tickets as a blatant attempt to boost city revenue sources.”
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“Using the same amount of caution — external doors locked, garage door closed, fence gates not left open, not answering the front door after dark, etc. We are being aware of people and cars that do not belong in our neighborhood. One of our neighbors takes down license plate numbers of ‘strange’ vehicles when possible.”
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“We’ve invited our neighborhood’s District Police Officers to meet with us. Our shared goal is to increase safety in the neighborhood by increasing our support for each other and our collaboration with the PD.”

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