Learn to ask for “B.O.L.O.” to help fight crime

If a man wearing a blue jean jacket and a baseball cap, and carrying a flashlight knocks on your door late at night, claiming to be with the Neighborhood Watch, don’t believe him. Particularly if you open the door and he shines the flashlight in your face and seems of beer or wants you to take him to the KenJo so he can buy a beer. This man is not with the neighborhood watch. 

The purpose of the neighborhood watch is to help make the neighborhood safer, but no member belonging to the watch should be knocking on your door in the middle of the night, and should certainly not be stinking of beer or asking you to take him (or her) somewhere to get a beer.

Should this man or one like him bother you, call 215-4010 and report the man. If the man should threaten you or if you feel in danger, call 911. 

At a recent neighborhood watch meeting held February 19^th at the 4^th Presbyterian Church at the corner of Glenwood and Broadway, this was discussed as well as speeding in the neighborhood, prostitution, and drugs. Sixteen members of Old North Knoxville (ONK) attended. The meeting was chaired by Rene Webb.

Officer D. R. Bible (who came on his day off) and Lt. Hoskins of the Knoxville Police Department (KPD) represented the KPD at the meeting and told the residents of an increase in car thefts in the area. Officer Bible said the carjackers were targeting late 1980s and early ’90s General Motors cars. Due to the way the steering columns are made, they can be easy to hotwire. In December 2001, 8 cars of this type in the area had been carjacked. In January 2002 the number was 10.

Lt. Hoskins said the graffiti seen in parts of Old North Knoxville, generally over toward Central Ave., was not the work of gangs but of “taggers.” Many of the taggers, he said, were UT graphic arts students. One such student even runs a web site where many of the works of the taggers is displayed. They especially like tagging railroad cars, since the cars go all throughout the country. 

In Old North Knoxville, Greg and Rena Webb have donated paint and the Webbs along with Bob and Stephanie Lavoie have worked to paint over the taggers’ works as soon as they have appeared. This has apparently worked to discourage them. Thanks Gregg and Rena, Bob and Stephanie.

Lt. Hoskins said there were plans underway to hold another prostitute sting in the area. By the time you read this, it may have already happened. He did offer a suggestion to those people who call 215-4010 to report prostitutes or drug dealings in Old North Knoxville. He said to get as good a description as possible of the suspicious person or persons involved, where they are, what you think they’re doing, and which direction they might be going, and ask the person in the call center to “B.O.L.O.” the information to the beat officers. B.O.L.O. means Be On the Look Out. The information will then go out to several officers patrolling the area.

In other news, Rena Webb reported that she was going to try to get police bicycle patrols in the neighborhood this spring (Note from webmaster: bicycle patrols will be a reality according to Sgt. Sherry Uzzle who spoke at the March 28 ONK meeting). Officer Bible said there were plans to begin monitoring the speed of traffic in parts of Old North Knoxville. 

Thank you to the 4^th Presbyterian Church for allowing Old North Knoxville to meet there, to representatives of KPD for attending, and to Rena Webb for hosting the meeting leading the ONK Neighborhood Watch effort.

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