Local
businesses will join
‘round robin’ crime alert
By Richard D. L. Fulton
News Editor
THURMONT,
Md. – Vicki Grinder, Main Street Manager, announced at
the Jan. 17 town meeting that a crime alert system would be
set up to spread the word among local businesses when crimes
have been committed.
Because
of the potential for criminals in the area to target businesses,
Grinder has decided to lead the effort to establish a notification
network among local businesses to alert them when a crime
has been committed.
“If
a business is robbed at gun point, you need to get this out,“
Grinder told the board. She said that by the time the last
business is informed, the person could be gone. However, “the
person could still be in the area.”
Grinder’s
plan is to set up a network of businesses that would notify
each other by phone when a crime against a business in town
is reported.
The initial
businesses contacted would call another set of businesses,
and the process would continue until every participant was
notified.
“I’m
going to take businesses and pair them,“ Grinder said.
As soon as she is notified of a crime, “All businesses
would be contacted … the round robin would begin. Someone
in another business could see something that could help somebody
or simply be (made) aware” about a crime committed earlier.
Grinder
said she developed the concept in collaboration with Commissioner
William H. Blakeslee, and further consulted with Thurmont
Police Chief Gregory L. Eyler. She expects that the alert
system could be put into place within two months.
She told
The Dispatch the Cozy had been robbed at gunpoint
in February 2005 and also that week Super Eight was robbed
by the same individuals (who were subsequently apprehended).
“Both
were late at night. After the recent Blockbuster robbery is
when we came up with the idea,” Grinder said.
