sorry to burst your bubble, but I just heard my neighbor had his and his wife's vehicle wiped out of every electronic gadget in it.  laptop, phones, iPods.  no equipment, blowers, tools, we're taken.  sounds like a lazy thief.  a lady walking along my street told me that her neighbor 2 doors down had the same thing happen to them.  I haven't seen a police patrol car in over 2 years.  Has Mighty Hoover forgotten Bluff Park once again??  LOCK UP FOLKS!!  KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!

Hello rolling stone,
    Let me give you some back story before I discuss the car break-ins.  I work uniformed patrol in the Inverness area and under our 12-hour shift schedule, patrol and motor officer’s work on rotating off days and weekends.  I was working yesterday morning when all the car break-in reports started to come in.  Since I handle crime prevention duties part-time, which includes posting on the Department’s Facebook and Twitter sites, I felt it would be a timely reminder to all who follow the web sites that criminals are out and looking for opportunities provided by victims so I posted the update.  I like to post the same information to the Bluff Park web site in case some residents don’t follow Facebook or Twitter.    
     The car break-ins you mentioned happened when I was off.  When I return to work, I can contact records to obtain copies of those reports and follow-up with our property detectives to see if they have any updates or leads.  I will be off the next three days, instructing at the firing range on Monday, and back on patrol Tuesday.  I hope to have an update then.
 
Thanks,
 
Officer Foreman

I really don't think our ire is directed at the Officers who actively support us here in BP but, the fact that the coverage is very poor. Way too many residents for too few officers.and the City doesn't give me the impression that they really care how we feel. This subject has been beat to death and all I really want someone in the HPD to do is be honest about it and tell us why the coverage is so lacking.

Let me tell you guys about the car break ins. My parents live in Homewood. My dad has a tom tom gps he won through a raffel. I thought it was in his Toyota van, but it was in my mom's Toyota Camry. It has only been used maybe twice at the most, according to my parents. About 2 months ago a Homewood Officer came to our door and asked if we had lost a tom tom, because my parents address was on it. My dad had totally forgotten about even having one. Anyways, the person who allegedly stole them (and yes I went to school with him) stole that and went into other peoples cars and stole I think 6 other gps systems and other electronic devices. And guess what. From what the officers were saying is that he only went into unlocked cars to get the stuff. He didn't have to jimmy the lock or anything. I don't know if the perp in Hoover is getting into locked and locked cars, but if he/she is only getting into unlock cars, have some common sense and leave your cars locked at all times, and don't have valuables where they can get them. oh but don't leave your children locked in your cars. Thats a big no no!
 
Is there such thing as bait cars around here. Not in the sense of somebody driving off with one, but have cars strategically placed and have items in them that people would want to steal and when they steal them, they could some how get caught.

I see a lot of cars that people leave in their driveways all the time when they have perfectly good garages to park in.I wouldn't leave my car out for some thief to break into if I have a garage.

Quote from rolling stone on 04/16/12 at 12:59pm:

 
Is the problem because Hoover is to big of a city? If it was limited to Jefferson county then would there be more cops for the area? Is there any way to have some cops strictly for traffic issues and others strictly for criminal mischief, or does there have to be an overlap? Can the city hire contract cops or something. I am not sure what it would be called, but I think people get my drift. Wasn't Bluff Park one of the first neighborhoods established for Hoover, and if so, shouldn't this area get first dibs on police enforcement? I thought some cities gave a good home deal for a cop to live in an area and patrol it. Are there any that live in Bluff Park and patrol it.?I would hate for one to live really far away and for it to be an inconvenience to him.

Quote from rolling stone on 04/17/12 at 2:28pm:

 
If you didn't get to meet Mayor Gary Ivey when he addressed the Bluff Park community (along with the rest of the city council, State Senator Jabo Waggoner, State Representative Paul DeMarco, and Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis) on November 1 of last year (it was his first public appearance as mayor) at Artists on the Bluff, you can still meet him at any of the city council meetings.  They take place on the first and third Monday of each month at City Hall.
 
Our council does give any resident the opportunity to address them or the mayor, and all remarks are on the record, so it wouldn't be like you're passing him on the street and saying something to him.  
 
At the Nov. 1 meeting we all expressed our desire to have more police patrol (as always, which was the reason that BluffParkAL.org came to be in the first place back in 2006), but it obviously wouldn't hurt for our residents to make an appearance at the council meetings and repeat this to them on a regular basis.  It should be noted that they are aware of it, since at least one of our council members not only reads this forum on a regular basis, but also will respond to inquiries, as will Officer Foreman.