Act: I can’t have my alter-ego living in such an unsafe environment. Let’s face it……something happens to her I’m toast. So I have to at least make our block safer from all the criminal miscreants out there in this world. I believe it’s time to empower my neighbors, get Chani outta the house (she’s practically a shut-in) I believe the solution to make this place safer is to get everyone involved to protect ourselves from all the criminals. Power is best in numbers. We shall set up a network of information and call it the City-Wide Neighborhood Watch Initiative (CNWI) [YAY anagrams……fancy and official sounding]. Since the police are so underfunded this will eliminate unnecessary calls and assist them in nabbing the bad guys.

Imagine: Here are a few comics produced by my non-super hero counterpart. I got her off the couch and busy making awesome chronicles of my many adventures (aren’t they awesome?!??!). I thank her, even though she complains a lot and wants to busy herself with video games all day long. They display my awesome leadership skills and charisma perfectly…..the last bit shows how my neighborhood watch will work some time into the future. No criminals will be in this neighborhood. All the baddies will be vanquished with my help. We will be watching!

Just last week my mom got her car broken into. She owns her own business downtown and parks in a city parking garage. Windows of cars were shattered and vandalized. I worry about her safety down there at night. Something has to be done!

ACT:

Okay, so Modesto needs a better crime watch system. Here comes Supermom to the rescue yet again! It is obvious that neighborhoods need to rally together to form better neighborhood watch programs. It has to be a team effort! Everyone needs to participate in order to make their home and their street safer. If more homeowners think of other homes as their own, more people will take action to ensure that families are safe.

It’s also good to know what times people are home. Most people have a set schedule throughout the day. Learn it. Making sure everyone is keeping an eye on the neighborhood is key. Note odd behavior, cars and strangers. Phone numbers need to be shared so everyone has the information they needed to contact someone ASAP.

I wll make sure everyone in my neighborhood had an alarm system in place. It is also important to have a sign in the front of your home or stickers on your windows to show that you have this added security. An alarm system will hopefully give my neightbors peace of mind. It will also deter robbers from entering homes in the neighborhood. I will also make sure cars parked outside are equipped with alarms.

Adequate lighting is a crucial. As supermom, I will make sure everyone has a well lit home. How does the neighborhood look? If it’s not clean and well kept, I wil set up a neighborhood clean up day. Keeping your block looking cared for will tell others you care.

I will also hold an informative meeting so everyone in the neighborhood can learn how to better protect themselves against theft and other dangers. Perhaps bringing in experts in self defense would be beneficial. If someone knows a police officer, set up a meeting time. It’s important that neighbors aren’t afraid to build a partnership with police. It’s okay to report suspicious behavior without fear of retaliation.

And since I’m Supermom, I will make sure our police and fire departments had all the funding they need. No more job layoffs and more officers to respond to crime! In our time of economic distress, more and more people are concerned about the rising threat of crime in their community.

IMAGINE:

Cars are being broken into. I swoop down to notify the neighborhood, but see our neighborhood watch program is in effect. This Supermom is proud to see that everyone is working together. Alarm systems are alerting others of danger. Neighbors are making phone calls to notify neighbors and the police. Thieves are getting the message that this neighborhood is not to be messed with. We are all active participants and our master plan is working!

Act:
Attention… Attention my fellow citizens please stop with the crime before I Fierce Dreamer take my whole super powerness to a whole another level. Just to warn you some of you might not like what I unleash. Okay… okay that’s just my wishful thinking again coming out of my little tiny ounce of irritation. Someone please explain to me what good can come out of cutting the jobs of police officers and firefighters. Oh yeah that’s right nothing good comes from it. So as I Fierce Dreamer take control into my own hands I will set up surveillance cameras in neighborhoods. Maybe this would trigger a sense of fright in those law breakers. Along with that every neighborhood should have their own criminal watching club. I mean who else know the people that live in your neighborhood better than you do right? The club will meet each week to discuss any suspicious activity that take place. It wouldn’t be to bad of an idea if maybe families and friends attend self defense classes. As for the fire well that’s not really that preventable, but just in case keep a fire extinguisher handy. The more prepared people are the better they are at facing danger.

Imagine:
Destruction in my neighborhood? Ha! Bring it on. My neighbors are well prepared to take on anything brought our way. If it’s a robber we could easily take them down thanks to our wonderful self defense training. Say if there was an incident that requires me to notify my whole neighborhood that would be all done with the touch of button. What button you may ask? Well thanks to that wonderful invention of freedom alert the word gets spread ultra fast. My neighborhood and I have took the liberty to install the freedom alert system in everyone’s house so that when one of us is in danger we just hit the button and wha-lah everyone is aware.

Plus, its easy! I met the kid in the comic, Al, back during mission two when I was doing free advertising work for local businesses (you can see him in the video! he’s the one playing with the purple handball). He’s a real sweet kid, but sometimes he doesn’t like to share what’s bothering him. He’s got a real Atlus complex like that, constantly feeling like he has to hold the whole world on his shoulders.

Anyway, he and his mum got into a bit of a row one night and he thought he’d run away from home. I happened to wanted a small pick me up after a rather frightening encounter with the local crime element and he tagged along (mostly I insisted to get him out of the rain). Over burgers, we talked and he got whatever was bothering off of his chest. After several hours, he learned to see things from his mother’s perspective and wasn’t as angry any longer. He went home not long after and now he and his mother are getting along splendidly. I’m happy to report that young Al is no longer in any danger of being a criminal.

Yes, it is as easy as that. Just be a big brother or a big sister to kids who look like they could use a little help carrying their burdens. Their shoulders are smaller than ours, so even a little bit of our help can go a long way.

ACT: Using the information I learned, I came up with several ideas that would make my neighborhood less prone to crime. For example, I could add more street lights around the neighborhood. My car was stolen BECAUSE there was no street light lighting it. I would also ask neighbors to keep their lights on in their front yard and maybe even in their back yard. I am going to start a Neighborhood Watch!! I’ll even put the signs up…that will discourage people from doing criminal acts. Also, I will knock on people’s doors to recruit more people to join Neighborhood Watch; if they don’t answer I will leave some sort of flyer letting them now a neighborhood watch is starting in our area and in what ways everyone can help prevent crime here. I think these flyers will discourage crime as well. I will hold monthly meeting for our Neighborhood Watch. I will also patrol around the streets at night. If I presence any crimes being committed I will use my powers! You don’t remember?…It’s the banana peel I make appear spontaneously in front of bad guys and the poison banana seeds I shoot out of my index fingers…

These street lights will help my community be safer! YAY!

IMAGINE: What if a safety emergency occurred in my neighborhood five years from now? Like, um, what if there were burglars targeting our area…HMM. First, I would deliver flyers to each house to notify the neighbors. I would hold a NW meeting to hear about people’s concerns and also their suggestions. I would also keep watch at night.

This is one smart bear in case anyone forgot. One of my main goals while cruising the mean streets of central California is to scour neighborhoods in search of information. Most of the time I find my information in garbage cans in dark allies but I also read an occasional newspaper when no one is looking. I have a concern about crime in this human world. It seems like it is out of control while funds are short to fight it. Some of the ideas people have had in various parts of the country have been valiant but they aren’t cutting it.
Sure cameras all over town sound good, but in the case of London, where there are one million, it just hasn’t been effective in catching crooks. It may provide deterrence, but that can’t be gauged. Another idea people have had is to provide neighborhood watches. This is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. The watchers may get hurt. They don’t pack any heat. Here in San Joaquin County, there is the Starrs program that provides retired people driving cars to patrol areas. Great idea.

Cave Bear acts:

I have decided to take up residence in a secret location in the city to see what I can do about the problem of crime. I set up shop behind an old water tower and radiate outwards like a giant wave of justice. Using my powers of bear-strength, intelligence, and 35mph sprinting I take a bite out of Mcgruff…errrr I mean crime. My salmon flipping abilities came in handy against a gang one night. As they surrounded me and tried to take me down I flipped each one of them into the next life. Their guns only made me madder. I ripped limbs and slashed jugulars. One guy even had his little brother along in on-the-gang-training. I spared the little one and he hugged me saying “thanks cave bear”.
On another occasion in the middle of the night there were two guys in hoodies trying to steal Hondas. Their first crime was stealing cars. Their second crime was thinking a Honda was worth stealing. But since a missing car might mean some innocent person may miss work, I couldn’t let those losers get away. They are now resting peacefully near my colon.
In my lair near the water tower, I set up motion activated and computer tracking 50 cali-bear machine guns. They track targets that get too close. First the system warns them of their impending doom. Then if they don’t back away, the system warns them that it will shoot on the count of three. But it never makes it to three……because I have it shoot on two. Serves them right.

CAVE BEAR IMAGINES!
How it all goes down five years from now….ahhh yes. There is a family that lives in a small house with green walls decorated in somekind of new wave style. They have a small boy who has to be home alone because his parents both need to work to afford the house. That’s where I come in. I prowl the neighborhoods educating boys and girls about the dangers of strangers.
Its thanksgiving time and little Justin has just gotten home from school. I drop in to tell him of the dangers of opening the door to strangers. There has been a string of burglaries and he needs to know how to stay safe. He tells me that his parents flew to Paris for the holidays and forgot him. I tell him how to set up traps and hazards for burglars trying to steal stuff. My super bear intellect and brain powers tell me that danger is close.

Just then someone breaks in, and it is this big guy in a trenchcoat. He opens the coat and its filled with knives. This burglar sees me and swears he is a knife salesman. I know better, and now he is a half eaten lump of meat in my den behind the water tower. That’s one less criminal on the mean streets.