[RCAC] COMMUNITY WATCH ALERT: Solicitors working the neighborhoods

The paragraph below from a resident in the Five Points CAC provides a good overview of the situation. Hey Jennifer! Just wanted to give you an update regarding the email you sent out yesterday about the men going door to door claiming to sell magazines. My neighbors and I had an encounter with 1 man around 5:00 PM yesterday. He told us he had to speak to 75 people throughout the day to improve his public relations and speaking skills. He then asked us a few odd questions about where we lived, who our neighbors were, etc. Then he turned on the sales pitch about magazines and showed us a check he claimed that one of the neighbors had written to him. When we all turned him down, he kept walking and continued to go to a few other houses. Around 6:30 PM another man knocked on our door and some of my neighbors'. At 7:15 PM the cops knocked on my door telling me that they had caught both men (one was wearing a yellow shirt, the other an orange) and written down all of their information and checked their records. The cops said they weren't wanted for anything and did not have violent records, so that that was good; however, since they technically weren't doing anything illegal they could not arrest them for anything. The men told the cops they were on their way out the neighborhood. The cops told me that typically what happens in this situation is that there is a "boss" that drops off a group of men and then picks them up later in the evening and that it could go on for up to a week, so the likelihood that someone will knock on our door again is high. The policeman advised us to not open the door when the man knocks and he should go away. He said if the man starts to do anything suspicious, like looking around the house or anything of that nature, to call the police and they will be back out. Just thought the neighbors would like to have an update! Philip W Poe PWPoe(a)att.net 919.832.6777 voice 919.522.1078 mobile 919.832.6775 fax