Crime fears push residents into action

While getting a haircut, Anthony Sorrow mentioned to the stylist that he owned a home security company.

She immediately asked for business cards.

“Everybody in her family wants a security system,” said Sorrow, who owns American Home Security in Douglasville.

The economy tanks. Crime shoots up. Safety and security become issues.

In days like these, Sorrow’s business thrives. Phones ring steadily as folk inquire about security systems for homes and businesses. Only nowadays, the people calling aren’t “just lookin’ “.

“A lot of times when people give us a call they are still not sure what they want,” Sorrow told me. “We have to spend time to convince them on the value of a security system. The difference this time has been that, when people call, they want one. We are not having to convince anybody anymore. They are ready to go.”

Mentally, I’m ready.

Ready to take a firearms course and, perhaps, purchase a weapon for my home. Ready to add motion-detector lights where needed along corners of my house. Ready to do whatever necessary to protect Olivia, Joann, Miles, me. And given the conversations I’ve had the past few weeks with reasonable people from all walks of life, I’m not alone. People are concerned about their personal safety, their family’s safety.

Days ago, at Taco Mac on Mountain Industrial Boulevard, Bill May and I ran through the usual litany of state and national issues. Another subject came up —- omnipresent crime. I told him I’d curtailed late-night workouts because it just didn’t feel right leaving the gym. May shared similar precautions he’d taken recently.

Jamie Horner, who sat within earshot of us, chimed in. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said. “You don’t feel safe.”

Recently, Bill York and I met for lunch to discuss a project we’ve postponed for some time. The Stone Mountain retiree, along with Lilburn Police Chief John Davidson, gives safety presentations to senior citizens. York has a permit to carry a weapon. He doesn’t walk his dog or sit out on his patio without it.

“I’m not mercenary,” he told me, “but at my age, there’s no way I can fight someone off of me.”

See, it’s not about paranoia or fear. It’s about self-preservation. People are jobless. Desperate times can lead to desperate, perhaps criminal, actions. Then there are the opportunists. Thieves knock on doors to make sure homeowners are home. They want them to be present so they can demand access to the cash, jewelry and other valuables.

So now is not the time to exhibit a false sense of security.

Not even for experts like Sorrow.

He told me about a customer in Marietta who had a home security system installed because of a neighbor’s scare. The couple had pulled into their driveway and, in haste, left the garage door open. The husband rushed inside, leaving his wife. He had to use the restroom badly. A man entered the garage, grabbed the woman, muffled her screams and started dragging her to a waiting car. The husband appeared. The attacker dropped the woman and ran away.

“They lived in a pretty nice neighborhood,” Sorrow said, “and probably felt secure. Now, when I pull into the garage with my girlfriend, I make sure she is inside before I go in. Before, I would not have felt any danger. Now I make sure the doors get shut really quickly. It seems like criminals are getting bolder.”

So should we.

> Rick Badie, an AJC staff writer, updates his blog Monday through Friday.