[mgjim]

Originally Posted by 57ChevyFI

Community watch does not patrol in vans, they have a couple small SUV's and pickup trucks. And just becasue he said there was no law against looking in bushes that didn't mean he didn't canvas the area. Most likely the guy was snipe hunting

Of course, it would be a violation if he was snipe hunting out of season.

[keithwand]

MMM...love snipe. Tastes like chicken.

[mm1717]

Lets face it all they do is ride around and waste gas that we pay for !! Oh but they do wave at ya !!!

[Bonanza]

[B][/Community Watch --

A/K/A . . . . (are you ready?????)

The Keystone Kops (with a shred of authority . . . . . sort of).B]

[TraceyMooreRN]

I certainly love TOTV, reading the pros and cons to everyone's personal experience in The Villages--

So here is my response--I heard a story (first hand) from a person who had a dog pass away at his house. He was so distraught, he reached out for help from The Community Watch. The problem was- his dog was so large (or heavier) than he could handle. He needed assistance to get his deceased dog into his vehicle so he could take his loved one to the Vet's for proper disposal. The Community Watch assisted him during his hard time going to his home and helping him load a deceased pet.

Was this in the description of what Community Watch does? Did the Community Watch go above and beyond? Yes!!!!

As far as if you are stranded with car/cart--people are SUE HAPPY. Imagine- Community Watch hooked up cables wrong- (like someone did in VA to a friend's Lexus) and destroyed her electronic control panel. Who is at fault? The one doing a favor--YEP. Would the Community Watch insurance cover that expense- no, because a policy states they can't---which equals no liability an employee did not follow policy-

How about the gate that "hit the car". After video shows person drove too slow to get through the gate. Who is at fault?

I certainly think it was in error for them to mislead you into thinking they could assist- and you waiting longer for assistance. I hope you wouldn't have been upset if they would have just told you from the start that they could not assist with jumping your car- but could respond to assist you for security while waiting for another person. No company I know couldn't improve with communication within the employees--lesson learned, Community Watch isn't here for jumping your car. However, they certainly do way more than most know of behind closed doors.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by TraceyMooreRN

I certainly love TOTV, reading the pros and cons to everyone's personal experience in The Villages--

So here is my response--I heard a story (first hand) from a person who had a dog pass away at his house. He was so distraught, he reached out for help from The Community Watch. The problem was- his dog was so large (or heavier) than he could handle. He needed assistance to get his deceased dog into his vehicle so he could take his loved one to the Vet's for proper disposal. The Community Watch assisted him during his hard time going to his home and helping him load a deceased pet.

Was this in the description of what Community Watch does? Did the Community Watch go above and beyond? Yes!!!!

As far as if you are stranded with car/cart--people are SUE HAPPY. Imagine- Community Watch hooked up cables wrong- (like someone did in VA to a friend's Lexus) and destroyed her electronic control panel. Who is at fault? The one doing a favor--YEP. Would the Community Watch insurance cover that expense- no, because a policy states they can't---which equals no liability an employee did not follow policy-

How about the gate that "hit the car". After video shows person drove too slow to get through the gate. Who is at fault?

I certainly think it was in error for them to mislead you into thinking they could assist- and you waiting longer for assistance. I hope you wouldn't have been upset if they would have just told you from the start that they could not assist with jumping your car- but could respond to assist you for security while waiting for another person. No company I know couldn't improve with communication within the employees--lesson learned, Community Watch isn't here for jumping your car. However, they certainly do way more than most know of behind closed doors.

Excellent post!

[travelguy]

what is wrong here is that when he called community watch for assistance they were ony too happy to tell him that they would take care of it. and then they showed up to tell him that they would not help. why did they offer in the first place?

[Ken24]

Originally Posted by otherbruddaDarrell

I think because too many people in the world want to take you to court for even the smallest thing.
Years ago when I was a Patrol Sgt. we would open locked car doors with a slim jim or wire set. We would jumper a car or help change a tire.............
Then it got to where we had to have them sign a release of liability in case we caused damage......and at times damage does occur.
Then the time came in the late 90's where we were told not to unlock cars or jumper them. We were advised to have a locksmith come out ($100 charge a lot of times) and a service station for the jumps.
I remember one of my officers trying to jumper a squad car in our parking lot and the battery blew up and got acid on him......things do happen.
Another time one of the patrolman locked his keys in his private car and asked me to open the car since I was experienced in that model.
I even had him sign the waiver...........I got the door open but the handle assy. fell apart and he had to take the door panel off to put it back together.
Times have changed.
It would be an easy thing to have a portable battery pack available at CW to jumper cars, but are they allowed to?
At the very minimum CW should have made sure help was available and keep checking back to make sure help had arrived.

CW should have told them they do not provide that service and made sure to send someone out to check on them. Times have changed you have to protect yourself and your employer from lawsuit.

[mickey100]

Originally Posted by TraceyMooreRN

I certainly love TOTV, reading the pros and cons to everyone's personal experience in The Villages--

So here is my response--I heard a story (first hand) from a person who had a dog pass away at his house. He was so distraught, he reached out for help from The Community Watch. The problem was- his dog was so large (or heavier) than he could handle. He needed assistance to get his deceased dog into his vehicle so he could take his loved one to the Vet's for proper disposal. The Community Watch assisted him during his hard time going to his home and helping him load a deceased pet.

Was this in the description of what Community Watch does? Did the Community Watch go above and beyond? Yes!!!!

As far as if you are stranded with car/cart--people are SUE HAPPY. Imagine- Community Watch hooked up cables wrong- (like someone did in VA to a friend's Lexus) and destroyed her electronic control panel. Who is at fault? The one doing a favor--YEP. Would the Community Watch insurance cover that expense- no, because a policy states they can't---which equals no liability an employee did not follow policy-

How about the gate that "hit the car". After video shows person drove too slow to get through the gate. Who is at fault?

I certainly think it was in error for them to mislead you into thinking they could assist- and you waiting longer for assistance. I hope you wouldn't have been upset if they would have just told you from the start that they could not assist with jumping your car- but could respond to assist you for security while waiting for another person. No company I know couldn't improve with communication within the employees--lesson learned, Community Watch isn't here for jumping your car. However, they certainly do way more than most know of behind closed doors.

If they were worried about "sue happy" residents, surely there was the potential for someone to have had back problems helping lifting a heavy dog. I'm sorry but I just don't see the difference. The dog could have waited until a friend or neighbor was there to help, the same argument someone made regarding jumping the dead battery. I agree with your statement regarding providing security assistance while waiting for someone to help with the battery, and that they should have had better communication regarding what they could and could not do. I'm not totally sure what the value of Community Watch is, but I would be more inclined to include a service such as jumping a cart battery, rather than loading/unloading dead pets. Just my two cents.

[TraceyMooreRN]

Originally Posted by mickey100

If they were worried about "sue happy" residents, surely there was the potential for someone to have had back problems helping lifting a heavy dog. I'm sorry but I just don't see the difference. The dog could have waited until a friend or neighbor was there to help, the same argument someone made regarding jumping the dead battery. I agree with your statement regarding providing security assistance while waiting for someone to help with the battery, and that they should have had better communication regarding what they could and could not do. I'm not totally sure what the value of Community Watch is, but I would be more inclined to include a service such as jumping a cart battery, rather than loading/unloading dead pets. Just my two cents.

I would think that having a man crying asking for assistance and clearly distraught who lost his pet/loved one- is a bit different than having a woman ask for a jump of a battery.

[mickey100]

Originally Posted by TraceyMooreRN

I would think that having a man crying asking for assistance and clearly distraught who lost his pet/loved one- is a bit different than having a woman ask for a jump of a battery.

We all feel for people who are crying and distraught, but where do we draw the line for having Community Watch provide assistance? If I am safely in my home, I personally wouldn't even think of calling community watch if a pet died, I would wait and ask assistance from a friend or neighbor. If I am stranded somewhere in my golf cart and unable to find a ride home or to contact a friend, and Community watch was available and willing, I would make that call.

We are each entitled to our opinions.

[Bryan]

A very old thread - no posts for four years (Apr 2010 to Apr 2014) and then this. Stuff happens, I guess, and certainly no biggie on posting to a four year old post.

I agree the response by CW (if accurate) was a little "snarky", probably way out of the ball park for a good community relations comment. It could and should have been handled a little better. They are generally paid to "watch" (thus their name) but he didn't bother to get out of his van (???) and look, record, and report to higher authority if necessary - he blew it off.

Perrjojo is a little off base when stating that CW can't start the complaint process. I guess he/she missed the article in the 3/25/14 edition of The Daily Sun (Pages C1 and C3) titled "Warning: No Parking". The article explained how our CW personnel were being utilized to give out written "warnings" to golf carts and vehicles improperly parked. According to the article, CW patrols "have handed out hundreds of these warnings, mostly around the high-traffic town squares, in the past 10 months or so." That certainly;y sounds like CW is actively involved in starting the complaint process to me.

[Bay Kid]

The key word is watch.

[perrjojo]

Originally Posted by Bryan

A very old thread - no posts for four years (Apr 2010 to Apr 2014) and then this. Stuff happens, I guess, and certainly no biggie on posting to a four year old post.

I agree the response by CW (if accurate) was a little "snarky", probably way out of the ball park for a good community relations comment. It could and should have been handled a little better. They are generally paid to "watch" (thus their name) but he didn't bother to get out of his van (???) and look, record, and report to higher authority if necessary - he blew it off.

Perrjojo is a little off base when stating that CW can't start the complaint process. I guess he/she missed the article in the 3/25/14 edition of The Daily Sun (Pages C1 and C3) titled "Warning: No Parking". The article explained how our CW personnel were being utilized to give out written "warnings" to golf carts and vehicles improperly parked. According to the article, CW patrols "have handed out hundreds of these warnings, mostly around the high-traffic town squares, in the past 10 months or so." That certainly;y sounds like CW is actively involved in starting the complaint process to me.

Perhaps not off base but not clearly stating my thoughts. Many on this thread insinuated that CW went around looking for weeds and pink flamingos. That is not their purpose for driving our streets. Those types of issues are complaint driven and reported to Community Standards.

[Warren Kiefer]

Originally Posted by redwitch

i ran out of gas (yes, my fault, but still) at 11:00 pm on the golf cart path by lake miona. I watched 3 community watch trucks drive by -- not one stopped to see if anyone was in true distress -- while i waited for a friend to help me.

I once stopped a community watch truck and explained that my neighbor's garage door had been left open for three days, which was not the norm for him (he was an ill-tempered alcoholic with diabetes). I asked if they could either check on him or call the appropriate authorities to do so. They said they would. Two days later, the man's brother called the police to check on his brother. Turns out the man had burned to death in his home after falling into a diabetic coma.

So, when and where are they ever helpful to anyone? They're friendly, they wave hi to you, they chat to the gate guards, they drive around and are a presence, they do write citations if you don't follow the covenants and restrictions, but i don't see where they're truly particularly helpful.

their pay checks come from thje residents. What's
the big deal in helping out a resident with a small problem??
All the residents ask is that they do their jobs and become an asset to the community.