Been a lot of Helicopter action lately

We live in a fairly safe city, one of the safest and smaller so it doesn’t necessarily make those “safe city” lists, but Irvine and Mission Veijo have and Lake Forest is sandwiched in between those two cities.

As far as Southern California goes, Lake Forest is a great place to live.  We like our neighbors and other families.  It’s just expensive, or rather, all of Southern California is beginning to become too costly to raise a family and gain any kind of savings without living check-to-check.  We just can’t get ahead and have nothing saved for a rainy day.  BUT our city is safe!  However…

Lately, this wonderfully, safe haven has had a lot of helicopter activity.  Like any city, you have your “better” sides of town and typically any helicopter/cop action is not near where I live and work, but on the other side of town.  However, recently this past month… I don’t know if Orange County Sheriffs are breaking out the helicopter for minor things or if there is a true need for “eyes-in-the-skies.”  Regardless, the first thing we all think is they are trying to catch a murderer, or bank robber.  Yet, it wouldn’t surprise me if they are just trying to locate a “person-of-interest” for any random thing.  When many of the Orange County police/sheriff’s drive BMW motorcycles and crime is not high, it just makes me wonder if a helicopter signifies a true threat existing to the public.

No matter what, as soon as you hear the chopper, you still get concerned (and on high alert) especially when it flies up and down your street flashing the spot light and flying around for an hour at night and eventually you hear the cops yell “STOP!” – later we found out it was a “hit and run” (no injuries) that someone smacked into another person’s car and then took off… huh… so the helicopter came out to assist the sheriff’s in capturing this individual that was hiding in our neighborhood.  (some scared, drunk, young person).   Okay, out of the 10 years I’ve been living here, that’s the first activity we had like that.

Then this morning, on my way into work (I work in the same city) – There’s a helicopter flying in a circle at the main corner/signal.  As I turn and enter my work’s parking lot, the helicopter put on his spot light (I guess to try and see better in the over-cast morning) and flew over and hovered over my work’s building.  WHAT is going on here lately?  Does south Orange County have a new toy helicopter they are playing with or has this area truly starting to have big-time crime?  I wonder if there’s a website we can see the reason each time OC sheriff’s dispatch the helicopter.  I’d be curious.

 By the way, interesting fact… although Irvine and Mission Viejo has made the safest city lists… does anyone remember the serial killer back in 1984/1985 that was terrorizing Southern California and Northern CA – Richard Ramirez “The Night Stalker” – he’d break into bedroom windows at night and kill people in their sleep.  The scariest part was he didn’t just stick to one county, he was all over LA and OC county and San Francisco.  A Mission Viejo 13-year-old boy, was up late at night and startled The Night Stalker away, got his license plate number that lead to the police identifying him as Richard Ramirez and ultimately his arrest.  CRAZY, huh?  Read this article