Date: December 13, 2011
Time: 10:35 p.m.
Two armed juveniles, and an adult attempt to rob a local convenience store. The problem was the shop keeper was closing up for the night, and had already locked the doors and put all the money in the safe. So the thugs took his car instead. Police chased the car through North Logan until they ran it off the road and the criminals took off on foot.
10:38 p.m. A reverse 911 call is made to area residents, warning them of the danger. The Eliason household has a land line, but it is used solely as a message machine for renting of the cabin. The ringer is turned off. I did not receive the 911 call.
10:40 p.m. Regina looks out of her scrapbook window and sees a police officer in her back yard scouring the field behind her house???? Another officer is at the top of the block, 2 more are on the street above my house, and more are pouring in. Frightened, I lock all the doors and set the house alarm system.
10:41 p.m. Regina's friend Police Sgt. Louise Speth calls to inform Regina of the situation and tells her to go into "Full Lock Down Mode"
Ok. Here I am with a situation where 3 armed fugitives are running loose through my neighborhood. Thank Heaven Louise called me or I would never have known the reason a police officer was scouring my yard. Full Lock Down Mode. What does that really mean? I realized I had no idea what that really meant, and I am in a situation where I could honestly be in some REAL danger. Clint is in Georgia, and here I am feeling scared and unprepared. Thankfully Louise walked me through it. I told her I had locked the doors and set the alarm. She had me go wake Jenna from her basement bedroom and bring her to the upstairs master bedroom, confirm that the garage doors were closed, all window blinds lowered, all outside lights on. Do not go outside for any reason. Do not let Lily outside to pee, because they had released the police canines in the area and we did not want to mess up their search pattern in any way. If we see or hear anything unusual call dispatch or 911 immediately.
Relatively simple right? Yes. But also very frightening. I realized that had I received the reverse 911 call, I could have been locking down faster, and that had Louise not called me, I could have been completely unprepared. Thankfully Louise rescued me again and notified me of the registration site for cell phones to receive reverse 911 calls in our area. If you live in Cache County, you can find that information here: 911.loganutah.org
If you do not live in Cache County, and rely on cell phones for your main source of communication, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you seek out this information for your area. It could keep you safe.
Oh, the ending of the story? Cache County's Finest stayed on patrol until around 1:30 am, Where they had captured 2 of the three hiding out in a new home under construction. This house is located on the street above mine, and is probably less than 1/8 of a mile away. The third person was arrested later on Wednesday. All is well. Keep yourself safe. Register your cell phones for reverse 911 calls. Do it. NOW!
