Jane Alexander was determined to solve her aunt Gertrude McCabe’s (1983) murder in San Jose. Jane’s investigation coupled with her insistence that authorities stay on the case helped to bring the accused to justice. Alexander’s tenacity gained much attention which led to the book “Citizen Jane”, and to a Hallmark Channel Original Movie.

“Citizen Jane”
September 12
9 PM Hallmark Channel (Comcast 66 or 185)
Ally Sheedy, Meat Loaf, Sean Patrick Flanery – (TV-PG,V), 2009

Citizens Against Homicide

Citizen Jane the book

Citizen Jane the movie site

I was disappointed that there were no location shots filmed in San Jose.

Although the fake SJPD building in the movie was better looking than the real deal.

Tuesday August 4 is the 26th Annual National Night Out.

So, what the heck is National Night Out?

It is America’s night out against crime, a way to strengthen community partnerships with local police and to create a united front to combat crime and drugs.

It is designed to:

Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;

Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;

Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and

Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Scheduled participants include Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Judy Chirco, San Jose Councilmembers Pete Constant, Ash Kalra, Sam Liccardo, Kansen Chu, Nora Campos, Pierluigi Oliverio, Madison Nguyen, Rose Herrera, and Nancy Pyle, Police Chief Rob Davis, along with community members throughout San Jose.

National Night Out
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
4:00 pm to 10:30 pm (times vary by location)

Participating San Jose Neighborhoods

Graffiti in a bathroom at Backesto Park

Starting tomorrow, the San Jose Police Department will be providing a new tool to allow residents to help fight graffiti. A new web page will allow us to report graffiti, including uploading pictures.

SJPD will use the reports to identify taggers for further investigation. The photos will be kept in a database to ensure that when caught, taggers can be held accountable for more of their actual offenses.

I sure hope this works. There’s too much graffiti out there. For the city, it means parks and library workers are busy repainting things when they could be doing other important maintenance in their facilities. Small business owners are forced to pay for clean-up at their businesses. And for the rest of us, graffiti makes us feel like we live in a city run by gangs instead of citizens.

Ever wonder what’s really going on in your neighborhood? You may not want to know.

But for those of you who do, try this: Type in your zip code, your address, the name of your neighborhood, whatever, into EveryBlock in San Jose. It will tell you all the crime reported in your area, the real estate for sale, the news items posted recently about your neighborhood, restaurant inspections, recent Yelp! reviews… and it’ll even have detailed maps to spell it all out for you. Sheesh. That’s a lot of information. Scary, scary information.

But… oddly… helpful.

You can decide whether you want to be creeped out by the number of burglaries by your house by signing up for email or RSS notifications, constantly reminding you what life would have been like if you were only richer.

The best way to use the site is just to enter where you live, but you can still see some city-wide statistics, categorized into zip code or neighborhood. Some of the highlights of what you can dig up:

• The charts for police calls for service pit neighborhoods against each other. As of today, downtown has the most, but Willow Glen comes fourth. Go figure.
• Check out the city council agendas and see if there’s any items hidden in them with an address near you.
• Get all your building and housing information here. What property is for sale? Any foreclosures? What about building permits nearby?
• Have a lot of restaurants around your block? See if anyone’s been messing with the food inspectors here or are planning to change their liquor licenses here. Or just check out what your neighbors are saying about them here.
• Seeing your zip code repeatedly in the Merc is never good. So find out what the news is saying about where you live here. (Plug: if San Jose Metblogs posts about an address in your area, it’ll show up there too. Don’t make us mad.)
• Sometimes geotagged photos pulled from Flickr and Panoramio may be more telling than any visit for prospective homebuyers.
• Zip codes may not accurately break down your neighborhood, so browse through this list and see if that works any better. Or if you’re more daring, browse by street.

I received an e-mail form letter from U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer informing me that new federal funding had been granted to the City of San Jose. I’m not sure how she came up with my address, because I have never mailed her. Anyway, she was announcing that the Feds would be helping San Jose out with the Weed and Seed Program. What? Medical marijuana gratis D.C.?

On further reading, I discovered that the Weed and Seed Program has actually been in operation for four years, and that it has nothing to do with lighting up. The program’s purpose is to weed out crime and plant programs for healthy neighborhoods. Considering the recent number of homicides, those new ’seeds’ better get here quickly.

Department of Justice’s Weed and Seed Program

Bay Area Crime Stoppers (BACS) is a way for the community to inform law enforcement of tips regarding crime.

The toll-free number 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) covers all nine Bay Area counties and your call is completely anonymous. The 24/7 call center has multilingual operators.

“Callers are never asked to identify themselves and there is no equipment in the call center that records voices or traces telephone numbers. Anonymity is guaranteed. Those who call Crime Stoppers receive a code number that allows them to claim a reward once an arrest and indictment has been made.”

Tip: program the number into your phones.

More information here.

The California Highway Patrol, San Jose Area, will soon be packing a new usually non-lethal weapon. In speaking with the CHP, I learned that officers are now being trained in the use of new Taser Guns. The weapons are sure to be controversial, but being shot with something that will most likely not cause any long-term damage is way better than a bullet in the gut. Right?

CHP Traffic Incident Information Page

My phone has been ringing with requests for taxi rides. I’m always happy when my customers plan ahead.

One of the best places to hail a taxi: A downtown hotel – like the Fairmont.

Do look at free rides.

DUI – The total Approximate Cost:–$5,540

Things got askew at eBay’s Hamilton Ave. campus today when a suspicious package was spotted around 9:30am. It was determined that the package could be destroyed – so it went boom around 12:30pm.

Last November the eBay North San Jose campus was targeted. Someone had left an explosive device strong enough to blow out a window near the PayPal office. Thankfully no one was injured.

Whats with this time of year and eBay?

Have you seen CrimeReports? It is the site that shows crime data in the neighborhood. I have mixed feelings about it. This information will either make me feel empowered, or it will scare the bejesus out of me.

Up along the top of the site it says, ‘Join and receive free crime alerts.’ Ping! I can see myself crawling across the floor to view my computer. I might see that a burglary, theft, vehicle burglary, vehicle theft, assault, sexual offense, or a homicide just occurred near by.

CrimeReports