CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. — Cave Junction may have a small presence of law enforcement, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t eyes and ears watching and listening.
“You might out run the police, but you’re not going to out run Facebook,” said Cave Junction resident Tim Duffy.
A Facebook page with nearly 4,000 followers is updated regularly and has reports of suspicious activity or crimes themselves. Duffy has lived in Cave Junction for years and said neighborhood watch groups have taken off in the past couple years.
“The neighborhood crime watch that we have actually does help because they give you license plate numbers, the color of vehicles, what time they were prowling the neighborhood,” said Duffy.
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson said neighborhood watch programs may have to be relied upon if resources become even slimmer in the future. In the meantime, he likes the community coming together.
“The public is standing up and doing this on their own and they’re sharing this information and I think it’s imperative. I think it’s an integral part of community safety,” said Sheriff Gilbertson.
The sheriff said the only drawback he can see is if a person possibly takes it too far and an innocent person is accused.
“We do still have laws relative to slander and I’d hate to see someone with good intentions, get caught up in making a bad judgment call,” said Sheriff Gilbertson.
