In a continued effort to increase awareness of safety issues in Indian Trail, please read the following and pass this information along to your neighbors, church / civic groups, and friends.

We continue to experience car break-ins in Indian Trail.  These break-ins have been taking place in both residential and commercial areas. The majority of these break-ins have been to unlocked vehicles at night.  We have also made recent arrests of individuals breaking into locked vehicles during the daytime hours. Always lock your vehicle when it is unattended.  When leaving your car parked, remove all personal items such as wallets, checkbooks, and money.  Either remove or conceal any valuables, such as GPS units, ipods, phones, and XM radios. When shopping, place purchased items in your trunk, not in view.

We ask that citizens call 911 if they see any suspicious activity.  Try to make note of person/vehicle descriptions, identifying features, and where you last saw the suspicious person/vehicle.  Provide the 911 operator with your name and a callback number so an officer can contact you to help him/her locate a problem that you saw.  Officers sometimes respond to incidents, only to have trouble finding the location or person. By having a callback number, it helps us find and handle problems quicker.  Many of our communities have active neighborhood watch programs.  If your community does not have a neighborhood watch, you can still be pro-active in deterring and reporting criminal activity in your area.

If you have teenage children, please review Indian Trail's Juvenile and Minor Protection Ordinances on their main page.  We have a zero tolerance with violations of this nature due to the serious risk that children are exposed to when out alone at night.

If your home or business has a security system, it must be registered with the Town of Indian Trail.  You may print the application on-line and return it to the Planning Department.  Make sure that you and your family members (or employees) are aware of how to operate your alarm system.  False alarms consume an officer's time and resources that could be used for more pro-active policing matters. 

In recent months, the Union County Sheriff's Office has fielded many questions from residents asking if their neighborhood can host a National Night Out celebration.  Please log onto the website for National Night Out, and learn more about organizing an event in your neighborhood www.nationalnightout.org/nno/

In 2007, an estimated 34 million people in 10,000 communities participated in this event. This year's national Night Out will be held on Tuesday, August 5, 2008.  The National Night Out program is a community event that heightens crime and drug prevention awareness, generates support for local anti-crime programs, and helps send a message to criminals that your neighborhood is well organized and does not tolerate criminal activity.  These events can range from everyone turning on their porch light that night, to a community gathering with food, entertainment, and games for kids. These events are organized by "community leaders" from your neighborhood.  A "community leader" can be a HOA board member, a community watch member, or anyone who wishes to organize their neighborhood for a good cause.  These events are funded by the neighborhood members and donations from local businesses to the community.  By logging onto the National Night Out website, you can register your neighborhood event and request information about National Night Out. Our agency has additional manpower working on National Night Out, so that we too can participate in neighborhood celebrations.  While law enforcement does not directly plan and organize these events, we can sometimes assist by providing ideas and act in a liaison capacity to coordinate donations from businesses.  Talk this idea over with others in your community and start planning now.  Things such as donated food, musical groups, rentable "playgrounds" for kids, and other supplies may become hard to locate as the date gets closer.  If after reviewing their website, you have any questions about participating in National Night Out, feel free to contact the Community Resource Division of the Union County Sheriff's Office for assistance.

Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns you may have about law enforcement issues in your community.

Sgt. Chase Coble

Union County Sheriff's Office

Indian Trail Contract Division

Last Update 02/18/08