In My Humble Opinion–Winging It by Marty Winger:

Well here it is folks, once again I beg the question, “what purpose does the SCA patrol serve?”  I always get the same answer, “they bring a presence to the community.”  So again I ask, “what does the presence do to provide a reliable sense of security to the community?”

Oh sure, I can keep on asking more questions and dig deeper and more revealing questions and surely, every time I do that (and have done that) “they” just get angry with me or just think I’m prying into some fiefdom that is so sacrosanct I don’t dare going into.

Let’s face it, they have never, that I can recall EVER proven to be effective.  Let’s take the real example of the “Tree Killer,” where it took a retired police officer to see and understand what he was seeing to confront the situation, use his training, and make an intelligent decision that something was wrong.  HE CONFRONTED, the perpetrator, something that the patrol cannot do, in fact wouldn’t do, or would they understand if they should do, even to stay on the site-given that they were lucky enough to be present to observe-and immediately have called or even made the attempt to have police respond to the situation.

So what does the patrol do beside burn gas in new expensive vehicles and create a very expensive carbon footprint.  I’m surprised that environmentalists in the community don’t inquire of a success rate to say the patrol is or is not an effective tool.  The patrol does not even get a reliable source of people to offer their “free” time to patrolling.

I might also need to add that while it has been a rare time that I needed the patrol they just were not there, and they also sure had the worse excuses not to come by.  My reason was during a Christmas time when home invasion robberies are the highest an incident occurs and they could have “nipped it” in the bud, but didn’t.  Another time I had a guest stay with me and they parked their boat in my driveway which did not protrude out into the street but got a warning ticket.  I immediately went to the office and they said the individual exceeded his/her responsibility.

Try this one…am I looking at the figures at what the Christmas party cost the community?  What club gets a “vig” like this (looking at the SCA website and the logs of the patrol)?  I have not seen any “logs” on actual events, but merely how much gas has been consumed.

Here are my issues:

We all need to take responsibility.  If this means getting a security system, get it.  Sure, you can read the Spirit to get some insights on what you need to do for your home security (in this case), but you can do all this and more from any number of resources including the police department and security professionals that has to do this type of work everyday, and even more importantly, for a lot of years.

Do you feel more comfortable that the patrol comes and checks your doors-maybe hours after an event might have occurred?  Please!

Now the magic question…who am I to say any and all of this?  I am 2nd a generation security professional, my son is 3rd.  My family started in the security industry in 1928.  Credibility, you bet!  I have given seminars for many years and still consult.  My backround includes having a security company in the Los Angeles, Ca area and prior to that working for the largest security companies in the world in DOD and Fortune 500 applications.  So over a period of 45 years I can speak with at least a background to communicate security that provides residential, commercial, industrial, and in all the fields.

Maybe, just maybe there are alternative resources in electronics that serve the general public of the community better than the chance of actually/maybe being lucky enough to save the loss.  If anyone would be interested I could provide resources that offer solutions and open the window to a better awareness.

IMHO, Marty Winger