Be watchful
Walking through the leafy streets of East Melbourne today, I noticed a neigbourhood watch sign. The signs are commonplace, everyday. But today, for some reason, I actually noticed the sign. Here's what I saw:



East Melbourne is an anachronous sliver of wealth stuck in the unwashed teeth of surrounding suburbs. It's wedged between the jeering and cheering of the MCG and Fitzroy's running battle between the landing gentry, the retreating artists and the housing commission flats. East Melbourne wears a quiet satisfaction by day which gives way to a quiet vigilance by night as hatches are battened down and plasma screens given a sanctifying kiss before bedtime. In short, it is a place ripe for a neighbourhood watch. It is a place where one's home, one's castle, may come under siege, as the poor attempt to leap a rung or two without doing the work.

The Neighbourhood Watch was an early precursor of Be-Alert-Not-Alarmed. Vigilance is key. A watchful citizenry has the benefit of going without uniforms. Together we can defeat crime. Together we have more power than if we are isolated, waiting in our bedrooms wondering what the noises are downstairs. Beneath a kindly civilian face can lie the heart of a policeman. We all have this power. We must keep watch. Scrutinise those we don't recognise in our area. A home invasion is a mental rape. The poor are violent. Increasingly, they don't know their place. Drugs goad them onwards. Ethnicity too. The gun laws are too strict. Johnny knew what to do..