Lockdown In The Hood
 

Interesting day in the neighborhood.

Went outside about 7:00 am to see why a police car was parked on my street corner. Officer asked me to stay inside for my safety. Went on the neighborhood forum and learned that an eight block by six block area of my neighborhood was on police lockdown.

Apparently at 6:30 am, a neighbor called 911 about a man walking with a backpack and handgun. Police responded, confronted the man, shots fired, man ran into the neighborhood. Police located him a few minutes later, more shots, he ran deeper into the neighborhood. Many more units responded and within minutes a police cordon was in place. Helicopter overhead. SWAT and K9 on the way. I started getting texts and calls from the police advising shelter in place.

It was about 7:30 am by now. I got the Glock, checked doors, looked out windows at my backyard, turned on the police dispatch audiostream. No-one was allowed in or out of the area unless escorted by police and with a good reason. No-one was allowed to go outside.

Police put description of the man on Twitter and Facebook. A neighbor checked her surveillance cameras, found video of a man matching that description and holding a pistol walking by her house, emailed that to police, those screen captures were distributed. Police at every intersection at the perimeter and interior of the area. SWAT and K9 teams searching yards, going door to door, checking empty houses, looking under tarps and in trees. Neighbors about four blocks away reported multiple bullet holes in their windows and walls.

I did computer stuff, made chicken stock, oiled my desk, listened to the audiostream, took a nap. Mid-afternoon I went into my backyard, did a little cleanup, climbed into tree house, checked it was empty, watched police from up there.

SWAT and K9 came to my yard, I unlocked the gate and let them in, my son offered them water, they cleared my yard and went to the next one. Dispatch relayed report of a neighbor finding a backpack. I heard dispatch saying that a resident had reported a man matching the description moving through the north part of the neighborhood, outside of the cordon zone, units responding. Later the lockdown zone was reduced in size. I was no longer in lockdown so I went to the store for some boiled linseed oil and paste wax. Came home, worked on the desk.

The all clear was given. A man matching the description had been apprehended and arrested on outstanding warrants in the far north corner of the neighborhood. No confirmation so far if he was the man who police were searching for. He may have been headed for a wooded area by the freeway where people have been camping, doing and selling drugs, that's about a block from where police got him. If he dumped his gun in the neighborhood, it may take some searching to find it - lot of greenery, bushes, ivy, storm drains. Maybe he wasn't the guy.

Edit: mugshot of the arrested man looks like the man in the security camera video, as best one can tell from that video. I mean similar size, build, hair and facial hair color, skin color. The security video isn't good enough to identify facial features.

Anyway, we were locked down for over 10 hours and I think close to 100 police were involved. My desk is nicely oiled and tommorrow when the linseed oil is dried I'll apply old fashioned paste wax.

How did the police know your number to text/call?

Cell phone trackers?

Interesting question. I looked into it a bit. Portland police use a few different ways to notify people of emergencies.

There is a WEA system that sends emergency alert message to all cellphones that happen to be in range of a particular cell tower. https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/wireless-emergency-alerts-wea

There is another CENS system that makes calls to every landline phone (info provided by the carriers). This system supposedly doesn't call cellphones unless the cellphone number has been registered with a publicalert service that the city uses.

See pp 8-9 of https://www.portlandoregon.gov/pbem/index.cfm?&a=352777

The interesting thing is that I don't remember registering my cellphone number with the public alert system, actually I'd never heard of that system before. Okay maybe I provided my cellphone to some city service and it was automatically entered into the CENS system.

My neighbor was in New York yesterday and he got calls and texts on his cellphone there, while my neighbor across the street didn't get messages on his cellphone. So these messages were not through WES.

Still looking for the answer. Anyone know?

There's a serious (to me at least) issue in Canada with police (at various levels) using cellphone trackers illegally. I doubt that was done on such short notice.

There is no need for them to know your number. They'll just send it to everyone with an address in the area.

Police have cell tower 'spoofers' google "Stingray"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker

How does your local police department know 1) that you live on a particular block 2) what your cellphone number is?

I'm not complaining about the texts and calls, in fact I went and registered my cellphone on the public alert system today. I'm just curious how I and others received these texts and calls on our cellphones yesterday.

But my neighbor was in New York when he received these calls and texts on his cellphone.

Probably not on short notice without a warrant?

In our area they ask us to sign up for "reverse 911" via NIxle. We also have

The Santa Barbara County Aware & Prepare Initiative

Is it possible that certain cell providers do the registration for all subscribers and some don't?

My I phone has an Amber alert notice and an emergency alert notice. I have both turned on. I imagine that is how they track and alert my phone.

Lockdown In The Hood
 

I was in my kitchen making coffee and feeding the cats when I heard the shots. Then sirens whizzing by. We're just outside the lock down area (3 blocks away) so followed with interest but not panic.
I used to get those alerts on my cell, but got tired of the amber alerts which made a godawful noise, so I opted out. Can't remember how I did that..


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News. Arrested man confirmed to be the suspect who confronted officers with a handgun and causes a 10 hour lockdown with 100 officers. But he had an Airsoft, not a real gun. So he was released. This drives me crazy. Criminals carry Airsofts precisely because they are indistinguishable from real guns, can be used to commit crimes just like real guns, but if they are caught they can often escape charges for gun crimes.

.... and all the gunshots and bullet holes in houses were police...

We have had similar situations in our neighborhood, so you have my sympathies. Just glad you are alright after what had to be a pretty stressful situation; not knowing at the time that his rifle was a toy would certainly add to the fear factor in a situation like that. Taking shelter in your home, with your trusty Glock in reach, was obviously the best approach. Glad it all worked out.

Our own "shelter in place" drills always involved bank robbers who would hit a bank about half a mile away through a wooded tract, then flee into the woods. We used to be surrounded by about 18 acres of woods, before development claimed most of them. I guess the upside of the developments are that we have not had to do that since they went in...