At the Wal-mart, in Shrewsbury, on 12/7/06, at approximately 11pm, a woman was the victim of an attempted robbery at knifepoint, in the parking lot outside the store.  The male suspect, wearing a ski mask, took out a knife asking the woman for her bag.  The woman refused and screamed out for help, as the suspect fled on foot.

It doesn’t matter where you are, what time of day, and whether or not there are witnesses around, you have to constantly be on guard.  I learned that when I lived in Baltimore City, but in Shrewsbury?  No place is safe anymore.

BigDaddy - 08 December 2006 02:40 PM

I learned that when I lived in Baltimore City, but in Shrewsbury?  No place is safe anymore.

Alot of people from Baltimore have moved up to the Shrewsbury/Stewartstown area.

SCREAM, SCREAM LOUD. And if you hear someone scream, stop what you are doing and help.

I don’t think the issues is people moving up from Baltimore. For the most part, if you move up here, you can afford to live here and don’t need to resort to crime. The crime comes from those that are looking for easy targets. The suburbs are a great place to go. Look at the dramatic increase in robberies in this region the last year or so. Twenty years ago if you saw a car in town you did not recognize, you took notice. Today, every one of us sees cars we do not recognize every minute - it is common place now. This makes it very easy for a criminal to blend in. I would be willing to venture a guess that most of the criminals are outsiders looking for easy targets.

- Easy to blend in or not be noticed
- Lack of active police protection (we have good police, just not enough coverage yet)
- Complacent population (that will never happen here attitudes or they are too busy to notice odd happenings)
- Plenty of targets (small stores, unaware people, lots of cash business)
- Quick and easy get away across state lines or into the countryside
- Crappy economy, lack of viable good paying jobs
- Rise in drug use

= Rise in crime

I still love this area. It is better then much of what is around us. We just have to change our attitudes and become more aware of our surroundings. Get to know our neighbors, notice when something is out of place. Help if we hear someone yelling for help.

It seems I may need to start using my CCP locally these days.

I am with you on that thought Tim. Not a bad idea.

Don’t leave home without it.

With regards to Wal-mart, I think they need better lighting in their parking lot, especially down by the garden center and its parking area.

I definitely agree with that.  The Wal-Mart parking lot is not at all well lit.  Neither is the Giant parking lot.

The biggest problem with it occurring in the WalMart parking lot is that it is right next to the highway...too easy of a get away before the police are able to respond....more than likely it was not a local resident.