I woke up last night to my dog barking and was sure that there was something bad going down outside. Before I knew it I had run to the front door and saw a big crowd of folks walking around the house next door, which I recently purchased. They were flashing lights all in my husband's car. We have several lights on in the house and a flood light in the driveway. The snow is shoveled so even though the front windows are boarded the house clearly isn't abandoned. There are no blinds or curtains along the sides or back of the house so anyone can see straight through for safety. I open the door and tell them to get away from my house. Right then my husband runs up and a few of the guys say his car matches the description of the rapist's. They tell, not ask him to come out in a harsh tone. They say they are looking for the serial rapist and they want to make sure he is not in my house. They flash a light in his face although the porch light was on. He is given a flyer and the folks go on their way. They continue on looking around my house for a couple minutes. They have a bull horn, and I hear them as they trump away saying "There is a rapist on the loose. Women, stay in the house after 9pm...."

Okay, this is Eastwood near Brock, a rather quiet and clean block for this area. Yes, it is still a questionable area, but this is the quietest block over here. There is only one abandoned house on my block, and it's next to the famous carwash at Hayes, and still not an eyesore. We live a bit from Gratiot and really I thought this was rediculous. These guys should be more careful, as they obviously aren't police and are just walking up on people's property waking folks out of their sleep late at night. They didn't even stop at the obviously abandoned house by the carwash. The lights are out there, perfect for them to search for a rapist, right? Why stop at a well lit house with a car clearly parked in the driveway and shoveled snow and start walking around it? I had trouble sleeping last night. I'm glad for all the police in the area lately, but I was a bit shook by this. I was wondering if this happened all over my area last night. There are a lot of abandoned houses across Hayes and even just a few blocks west from me. I really hope they checked over there.

So folks, this task force is really on the hunt... The problem here is that I'm not sure how to feel about what happened last night. I'm glad they care enough to be out there walking, but they kinda scared me. I'm used to the ways of the hood but really, this felt different. So I'm a teacher and he's a banker, the houses are in good shape. There are only boards on the two front windows, locked doors, well lit... Yes, this guy could be living right next door and who would ever know? But really it seems like they could have just missed a crime looking in the wrong places...