I live on Watsonia Terrace at the end of a cul-de-sac. When I had my car stolen outside my house about six weeks ago, I contacted Post Alarm to ask to speak to the patrol officer who was on duty during that time, in order to ask them when the last time they saw my car parked outside my house was, so that I might put in an approximate time when the robbery took place on the Police report, and also to ask them if they had seen anybody suspicious wandering around the neighborhood that night/early a.m, looking into parked cars and trying to see if the doors were unlocked or easy to unlock. Evidence of which my neighbors apparently captured on their security cameras the day before my car was broken into and stolen, although it is uncertain if the incidents were connected.

However, I was given the run around every time I called Post to speak with a customer representative, and nobody ever gave me the right name of the officer on duty, and none of the patrol officers seemed to know any of the other patrol officers who worked for the company since their shifts never inter-lapped, meaning that there are times when NO officer is on duty at all, and the dispatch manager claimed that all their drivers had different schedules and invariably were off duty when I called, and unavailable to take my call, and of course, none of the potential officers-on-duty that sunday night of July 9- early monday morning of July 10- ever bothered to call me back. I never once accused them of anything or implied that they were neglectful or not doing their job properly. I just wanted to ask them a few simple questions and get some information which could help me get my car back.Or help the police try to find the car thief. But I got nothing from them. And curiously enough, the Patrol vehicles stopped driving into our cul-de-sac altogether after my call for their help. As a matter of fact haven't seen them drive up here in weeks since the car theft.

This is rather odd because every night for the past few years, the Post security patrol car has always driven up to the end of our cul de sac, various times a day and at least 2 or 3 times a night, and as a matter of fact, the officer on duty would regularly stop and park directly in front of me and my neighbor's houses at the end of the cul de sac, and takes a 10 minute breather sitting in his vehicle, and then would drive back out of the cul-de-sac to continue doing his rounds around Whitley Heights, or to wherever else he had to drive next. And in addition, since my neighbors, Bob and Theo Primes -responsible, paying Post subscribers - happened to be out of town at the time, (Theo had her parked car on the street in front of their house as always), they had notified Post Alarm of their summer plans to make sure that they upped the surveillance and kept on eye on their house while they were gone. So all the more reason for POST to have been keeping extra tabs on our little cul-de-sac, and be on the lookout for any suspicious or irregular activity in the area.

I also know for a fact that the officer on duty would have known when he last saw my car, whether it was the guy working the graveyard shift (from approx 9:30-10 pm to 6 am ) or the guy doing the early morning rounds (from 6-7 a.m onwards). They have seen my Mercedes and my sons Prius parked outside our house countless times.

So why won't they come forward and disclose their whereabouts when my car was stolen? Why are they avoiding coming near my house, and my next door neighbors' house, or driving up to the end of the cul-de-sac like they used to do? What are they hiding? are they in co-hoots with the car thief who broke into my car and drove off with it into the night? Who knows? Does anybody care?

Either way, none of these Patrol security guys have struck me as being particularly bright, or efficient, or even that friendly, and they don't seem to be particularly well trained in security and safety matters, either. They aren't even armed. They don't even know the names of the streets they supposedly drive around to protect. (I asked them).

Don't think I'll be renewing my patrol membership anytime soon,

Marie