Tuesday, August 5, is National Night Out. You can participate by locking your doors, turning on outside lights, and spending an evening outside with neighbors and police.

National Night Out (NNO) is a nationwide program that organizes individual communities against local crime. Last year, over 11,000 communities across the country, and about 60 neighborhoods in San Jose, participated in National Night Out. Conceived in the early ’80s to increase participation in town watch programs, NNO in San Jose today has shifted emphasis toward improving contact between neighborhoods and the Police Department.

The goals of National Night Out are 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.

Around San Jose, the bay area, and the whole country, volunteers will participate by showing support for their police officers and arranging activities to bring out the community to meet their police, usually in local parks.

In my neighborhood, San Jose’s Northside, National Night Out will be celebrated with an outdoor showing of the movie The Water Horse in Backesto Park, a picnic dinner for 500 people, and DJ music by Northsider Victor Tapia. The picnic dinner begins at 6 PM, and the movie will be shown at dusk.

If your neighborhood has a National Night Out event planned, please leave us a comment and let us know.

Unless you have been asleep at the wheel, you should know that the new wireless hands free while driving law has begun.

Actually, there are two new laws taking effect today, July 1, the first prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless phone while operating a motor vehicle. Drivers 18 and over may use a hands-free device. The second law is that drivers under the age of 18 may not use a wireless phone or hands-free device while operating a motor vehicle.

Drivers 18 and over will be allowed to use a hands-free device to talk on their wireless phone while driving using a Bluetooth earpiece, corded headset, or the wireless phone’s speakerphone.

The base fine for the first offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount.

DMV FAQs

 Loading …

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.

courtesy - KBlood’s photos

It’s not that The City of San José doesn’t want us to have a good time this Tuesday, they just want to discourage the kind of wild and crazy behavior that leads to mayhem. The downtown parking garages will close at 9:00p. And, the Youth Curfew Ordinance will be enforced: SJ Muni Code 10.28.020 Curfew hours are 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for minors 15 years old and under and 11:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. for minors 16 & 17. - Unless accompanied by an adult.

VAULT ULTRA LOUNGE

San José State: See Events

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

Honolulu, Hawaii is now America’s Safest Big City in the new CQ Press rankings of safest and most dangerous cities. San Jose now ranks third behind El Paso, Texas in the Safest Big City category. San Jose held first place for the past six years.

CQ Press crunches FBI crime statistics to determine the rankings. There are different variables that go into the way the information is reported; one community may report an incident as minor and another report the same incident as being more serious. In addition, a city does not necessarily become unsafe when there is an increase in auto thefts but may fall in the rankings.

The fall from first place for San Jose may be because wearing the ugly new Sharks’ jersey is being reported as a crime. This could be a major factor for the third place ranking.

One definition for cheap is inexpensive, and cheap can look shabby. Not the look we want for our San Jose neighborhoods. Willow Glen Extra did a post back in June about the problem. It came up again in Monday’s Mercury News. Mr. Roadshow, Gary Richards, was asked about the legality of parking the trucks on the streets.

Apparently, in San Jose, the trucks are permitted to park with the purpose of advertising as long as they are moved every 72 hours. The City of San Jose needs to amend the parking rules to outlaw this practice. These trucks are often parked past the stop sign making right turns more difficult. Is this legal? Where is the cop when we need one?

For Inoperable, stored or abandoned Motor Vehicles in your neighborhood Call Vehicle Abatement @ 277-5305

This morning I checked my Gmail, took a quick look at Metroblogging San Jose, and then glanced at MercuryNews.com. What caught my eye was the story about a house fire near White and McKee Roads.

I lived in that neighborhood in the early 70s, and as I read the article it brought a flood of memories. The house that is now destroyed had belonged to one of my neighbors. Though Mr. Tanner, the gentleman who lived there, and I never spoke he would always wave as I passed by with my young son.

Mr. Tanner had a presence, an easy self-assurance that could be felt on our streets. I had heard rumors that he had been a policeman, but I didn’t know the rest of the story…Francis Carl Tanner Jr., was the first black police officer in San Jose, and from what I have now learned, one of the best. We moved across town in 1979 and I didn’t hear of Officer Tanner’s death in 1991.

This morning, standing in front of the Tanner home, my thoughts were with Mr. Tanner’s wife and daughter during this tragedy.

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

All taxi drivers in San José received a letter from the San José Police Department Permits Unit, informing us that a written test, every two years, will be administered at the time of our permit renewal. Cabbies are expected to have a minimum competency level regarding traffic laws, and safe driving practices. Drivers’ knowledge of the San Jose Municipal Code, Title 6, the California vehicle Code, and the California Driver Handbook will be tested.

Yesterday, many of my fellow cab drivers staged a noisy protest against the mandatory re-certification. They drove around City Hall honking their horns and tying up traffic. At the press conference the cabbies complained that the retesting was unnecessary. And, they threatened to stop work for a day, or for however long it would take, to get the City to back down.

According to this mornings Mercury News, part of the test would include a driving test with a police officer in the taxi. I checked with the SJPD Permits office and was told that the Mercury’s information was incorrect. The renewal test will only consist of 25 multiple choice questions. The test will not be timed. Drivers need only get a 70% pass rate. It does not appear that the test will be difficult to pass, so I am not sure why this particular group of 300 drivers are so riled up. Could it be, that it’s just the principle of the thing?
(more…)