Community Corner

My View: Safe and Sound in Forks Township

Forks Township police reports are usually light on criminal activity each month.

"There's no crime in , Dino."

It's a phrase I've heard often since I started working for Patch. It's a phase I've heard often from Forks Township's police chief himself.

"There's no crime in Forks Township, Dino."

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Police Chief will tell me that whenever I ask him if there are any big crimes going on. And as a resident of Forks Township for almost two years now, I tend to agree.

There really is no crime in Forks Township.

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It's nice to know that I -- we -- live in a place that's safe and sound.

And without picking up the monthly police report from the chief and reporting the number of incidents each month, it really would be hard to tell that there was any crime here.

Murders? Nope, you might want to venture into for those now and then.

Retail thefts? That's more of a problem for with all of its stores and its shopping district on Route 248.

Bank robberies? Forget about it. The chief told me that Forks basically hasn't had one in maybe a decade. (There is a reason for this that the chief told me, but I'm sworn to secrecy.)

is a pretty safe place as well, but it's prone to more crime due to its location near some major highways. Crooks come in and try to check out quickly without . (Usually they do though.)

You wonder whether crime might escalate in Forks one day, if the new -- once it's filled -- might generate some additional crime.

Who knows.

OK, don't get me wrong. Crime does take place here.

Otherwise, the police chief might be out of a job. Or maybe Chief Dorney and his department are doing such a good job that criminals decide to look elsewhere.

I covered the last March. Who knows why a bomb was left there and really what the cause was and who the suspects were. The police never cracked that crime.

Other than that, though, even a scan of the monthly police reports (a story which I'll run on July's figures this week) shows no reason for alarm.

The number of incidents is pretty close to June's numbers.

So maybe Forks Township is really a sleepy bedroom community. After all, my and sister and her family have lived here more than a decade without incident.

The good thing, too, is that I always see these Forks police vehicles everywhere.

You see the patrol cars, or the SUVs or the . (I swear sometimes that the chief has put a tail on me.)

That visibility certainly takes a bite out of crime.

So, it's nice to know I'm safe and sound. It's also nice to know that after this is published, with such great PR for the police department, that I'll have a free pass on speeding tickets, parking tickets, you name it.

Well, we can all dream...


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