City Watch needs to warn everybody
City Watch, the phone system designed to alert citizens to emergency situations as soon as they occur, failed the test Monday night.
When two pedophiles escaped from the Mount Pleasant Regional Center, automated calls were placed to residents in that area. The call informed residents that the two men were loose, what their names were and what they looked like. Going in alphabetical order within a mile radius of the center, City Watch starting calling homes.
But at least one house, a short hike from the center, was skipped over.
My house.
About the time my fiancé and I were going to bed, four hours after we had put my six-year-old step-son to bed, CM LIFE Editor-in-Chief Melissa Chavez, who lives two blocks further from the center than me, got the call that two pedophiles walked away from the facility. She and her husband went through the precautions of locking windows, checking doors and being aware.
Maybe I should have her call me next time this happens.
As Matt and I slept soundly with our son a room away, most of our windows were unlocked, as was the back door. There was nothing to stop two grown men from entering our house and doing whatever they wanted to our boy.
There was nothing that indicated to us that we should be on our toes for intruders; we were totally unprepared.
Something terrible could have happened to our family Monday night. The horrible mental pictures, the things my brain showed me when I found out about the incident Tuesday morning, could have been real. There is nothing scarier to parents than a threat to their child, even when it’s after the fact.
This threat could have been prevented if the Mount Pleasant Police Department had its City Watch system working correctly.
The City Watch system is a wonderful idea. When working properly, it could prevent the fear and the mental pictures I experienced yesterday. More importantly, it could prevent the pain a mother would go through when those mental pictures become reality.
If something had happened to my son Monday night, I would have been lost. Adding the fact that all the anguish could have been prevented, I don’t know how I would have survived.
Without proper maintenance, the City Watch system is only a false sense of security. We have lived in that house, with the same phone number, for over six months; there is no reason my number should not be listed as located very, very close to the Mount Pleasant Center.
Before another pedophile escapes from the center, the Police Department needs to look into updating their system. City Watch is only advantageous if it reaches the right people.
LIFE Copy Editor Heather Bell can be reached for comment via e-mail at bell1hm@yahoo.com.
