Increasing Burglaries in HPP

[JerryCarr]

I have been following the police reports in HPP for well over two years now, and there has never been anything officially categorized as "home invasion." The closest things have been some incidents classified as "domestic" where one family member forced his or her way into the home as part of an on-going dispute. This may have happened three times over two years. I would have to review all the summaries to be sure, but believe me, if there were home invasions happening left and right in HPP, we would know about it. We would probably know about it even if they weren't reported to the cops because we get calls to Neighborhood Watch all the time from people who, for one reason or another, don't want to talk to the police about things that happen to them or others. Our standard procedure is to gently try to get them to go to the police, but they usually don't. Not one of these reluctant people has mentioned a home invasion.

[csgray]

Paul,
Reread my post, I said home invasions OFTEN were not reported. Often does not mean none were reported, but that SOME are not reported. If you are going to parse every word someone writes you should read those words carefully. I don't really know why you have been jumping in with critiques of my posts like this, I made a statement based on the sum total of my experiences, it was a small part of a total post. You demanded to know what I based my opinion on and I told you. You then tried to put other people's words in my mouth and dictated what MY statement should have said.

Talk to any cop in Puna and they will tell you that much crime here goes unreported for a variety of reasons, including home invasions. Before I moved here I had never met anyone who had experienced a home invasion, since living here I have talked to multiple people who have had this happen to them, and read about Puna home invasions in the paper. This may not fit with your view of reality, but it is the reality I have experienced.

I don't just make stuff up, I am a fact based person, but I also do not nitpick every word in other people's posts, and for you to assume I must agree with every post I do not actively disagree with is a huge stretch.

Carol

[PaulW]

Carol, sorry I jumped to conclusions about being drug-related but then what are these home invasions about? Robberies?
In that case, why are they OFTEN not reported to the police? I read the paper too, I don't see anything to make me think that
home invasions are "fairly common". I'd say "extremely rare", especially in HPP. The police don't know about them, the neighborhood watch doesn't know about them, nobody I know knows about them. Only your school children.

If someone makes an extraordinary assertion, which goes against everything (I think) I know, then I ask questions. I want to know if there is any actual evidence. Turns out, in this case there isn't.

There's only one reality.

[csgray]

Paul,
Agreed there is only one reality, however every individual has a view of a different piece of that reality based on the sum total of their experiences. Your experiences are not mine, that does not make either set of experiences less valid, just different. And those experiences inform our individual perceptions of "reality" which are then different to the degree that our experiences are different.

I did not say there was more than one reality, I said you and I have different views of reality based on our experiences. Are you saying that other people's view's of the world are not reality if they differ from your own? Is the reality you perceive the only valid perspective of the universe? Do you honestly believe that any one person is capable of viewing the sum total of "reality" and thus able to judge the validity of another person's experiences?

I conveyed an opinion based on my personal experience of being told about events experienced by people who had no reason to lie to me. Because their experiences are not yours, you assume they are not "actual evidence". All I can say is if you only accept as true information that which has been verified by police reports, reports to neighborhood watch and your personal acquaintances, you will only see a very small sliver of what goes on here in Puna, a considerable portion of the population here has only a glancing relationship with any of those things.

Carol

[TomK]

Just for clarification and my education, could someone explain the difference between a burglary and a "home invasion"? If I understand correctly, a home invasion is when someone breaks into a house that happens to be occupied at the time of the crime whereas a burglary is breaking into an unoccupied house and then stealing something.

I'm just trying to reconcile the numbers I see in my mind. There seem to be a few burglaries but Jerry says there has been nothing characterized as a "home invasion" so there's obviously a difference.

My apologies for the naivety of the question - I've been fortunate enough not to have been a victim of a crime in nearly 15 years in HPP and before that lived in a country where we had completely different names for these crimes!

Tom

PS. I'd be happy to volunteer what little spare time I have to the NW, but is that possible when my work hours are varied and unpredictable - and often off the island?

[JerryCarr]

Tom, it's quite possible to be a NW volunteer on a variable or intermittent schedule. We have members whose situation is similar to yours and who are able to make valuable contributions. Contact us at HPPWatch@aol.com for more information.

My own definition of a home invasion is when thugs enter a home with intent to terrorize, abuse, and/or rob the inhabitants. This is different from the burglary of an occupied home in that a burglar never really wants to confront his victim. Burglars don't like anything that slows them down or causes complications. Home invasion involves direct (and usually intentional) confrontation of the inhabitants which is very different from a burglar finding someone at home. There have been several (about three, IIRC) burglaries of occupied premises in HPP in the past two years, but the only one that I know of that resulted in confrontation was a case in which a resident chased the burglars as they ran away and one of them showed the resident a machete or large knife. He didn't attack the resident, but he did scare him. In the other cases of burglary of occupied homes, the burglars just ran away without being pursued.

I can't comment on Carol's students experiences because I haven't met them, and I don't know the definitions and parameters they use for their concept of what constitutes a home invasion. It might be a good idea for the school to contact the Community Policing Officer for their area and have some presentations and discussions at the school. The CPOs are trained to communicate in a non-threatening and low-key way, and they can provide an opportunity for the kids to learn and describe what they have experienced. Just a suggestion.

[TomK]

Thank you, Jerry, and will certainly drop HPPWatch a line soon.

Tom.

[PaulW]

Carol, my view of the world is not reality. It's just my own distorted view. Hard evidence gives us glimpses of reality. Eyewitness evidence is not hard evidence. Millions of people say they have seen flying saucers, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster. It doesn't make it true. School children still have a lot to learn. I know, I used to be one. They could just be repeating stories they've heard.

I'm sure there are lots of interesting things people could tell me about Puna if they don't let facts get in the way of a good story.

Reading about home invasions on the web I came across this quote from an ex-cop (paraphrased):
"99% of home invasions are drug-related. The other 1% involved people looking for drugs and going to the wrong house"

[dmbwest]

"Millions" ?


Fun to think those red Satelites are spaceships, Never been to Loch Ness but HAVE been in Bigfoot's back yard.
When I here of something I consider the source and way the info is put forth .... In all FOUR of these cases I believe.

aloha,
pog

[csgray]

Paul,
So the parents who confirmed those reports to me (as I already stated earlier) were just deluded because what they experienced doesn't match your preconceived notion of reality? As I also said before, if you are going to nitpick someone's posts it would help if you read them carefully first.

Carol