INC NEWS - Viewpoint: Informative e-mail list serves neighborhood well (Durham News)

[John Schelp]

Viewpoint: Informative e-mail list serves neighborhood
well 
By Elizabeth Shestak, Durham News, 9 Feb 2008

After returning home from a late movie a few weeks
ago, the last thing I expected to hear was the
doorbell ring close to 1 a.m. My husband and I were
not visible to the front door, but we froze and
waited. I had never felt so vulnerable in my own home
-- our front door is a ways back from the sidewalk,
and any friends would have called before coming over
so late.

We waited a few minutes, and when it appeared that no
one was standing outside, two courses of action came
to mind: report this to police, and e-mail the
Northgate Park Listserv -- an electronic mailing list
of people in our neighborhood, one of many in Durham.
It only seemed right to tell our neighbors what had
happened, especially with the rash of break-ins that
had been haunting our community lately.

I looked up the non-emergency police number and was
quickly transferred to 911, where I told the story and
asked that someone drive through our area just to
check things out. I then shot a quick note, just a few
sentences, to the neighborhood list.

My husband and I went to bed that night tense, but
glad we had done what we could to alert the proper
people -- the police, of course, but also our
neighbors.

I wouldn't even have known about the slew of petty
crimes that had befallen Northgate Park if it weren't
for this mailing list. When my husband and I went out
of town for Christmas, I was able to stay in touch
through the e-mails, and read about a few break-ins
that had taken place just blocks from our home. They
were not the kinds of crimes that made the newspaper,
but they were certainly of interest to me.

I spent two years reading the Listserv e-mails as a
reporter and, at times, as just another observer. Some
were forwarded my way if they were pertinent to a
story, others simply because a friend knew I'd be
interested in the houseplant someone was giving away.

It wasn't until we bought a house in a neighborhood
with a Listserv that I was able to appreciate the
system. Each day I read anywhere from a few to a few
dozen e-mails from my neighbors, and the content
ranges from lost pets to restaurant suggestions to
reports of suspicious door-to-door salesmen.

I have learned that one of my neighbors is a doula who
assists families with the time right after a woman
gives birth. Another neighbor was able to offer an
informed explanation for why the drought is making
some houses develop cracks along doorways.

After my late-night post about the doorbell ringer, I
was pleased to see a few responses the next morning.
One neighbor wanted to know the non-emergency police
number, while another assured me that calling 911
directly would have been appropriate. A thoughtful
discussion ensued about security options, and it was
all thanks to the communicative power of the mailing
list.

A few days later a fellow Northgate Park resident
posted a comment about another late-night doorbell
ring, which made me feel not so alone. He was able to
write a description of the man who rang, which also
gave me a sense of progress.

Over the next few weeks there were more postings about
peculiar activity in the area, but it all culminated
when a neighbor posted that she'd helped the police
make an arrest that morning. After noticing a stranger
walk into a nearby yard, she heard loud banging sounds
and called the police. The trespasser confessed to
some of the break-ins, and the whole neighborhood felt
relieved knowing at least one of the creeps who was
making us feel unsafe was off the streets.

There are definitely threads of discussion I have no
interest in, but sorting through the e-mails about
someone's dog jumping the fence is worth the rest of
the posts. I hope to read soon that the whole
doorbell-ringing fiasco has come to an end.