What's going on in my town?

Hope this is the correct sub-forum as this is my first thread, so mod's please feel free to place it as appropriate. Now with that said:

I had previously commented in this thread Anyone else noticed increased police presence in their cities? and stated that I had not seen anything out of the norm here in Santa Cruz, CA. That was about three weeks ago now and let me tell you, things have changed a bit.

I work in a small town named Scotts Valley near the coast which is about an hour south of San Francisco. I don't know if it's because I'm looking for it now (like when buying a car, you see the model you're interested in EVERYWHERE!) but I have certainly noticed more patrol cars on the streets. There's also an increased presence of other jurisdictions.

Last week on the way home, in the span of about 3 miles, three different law enforcement vehicles passed going the oppsite way. (Local, Sheriff and neighboring city patrol car.) Now this wasn't on the freeway. This was back road routes to avoid commute traffic.

Three days ago, the wife calls me at lunch to say there's a dozen cars in the Togo's parking lot in Scotts Valley all parked together with all the guys standing around talking to each other. The thing that was really out of place was there were several cars from jurisdictions that are OVER an hour and a half away!

Flash forward to day: I'm heading back to the office in Scott's Valley from a doctors visit in Santa Cruz. Again, I'm taking surface streets cutting through residential areas, and a blue Dodge Caravan mini-van with US Government plates passes me in the opposite direction and is full of soldiers in camo fatigues. So, what I want to know is "Why are there soldiers in Army fatigues driving around in my town?"

Their camo looked like this:



[edit on 3/7/08 by surfinguru]

well that sounds interesting, but I guess you can't make a conclusion without anything substantial. Go on the county's/city's website and see if there's anything there that might explain it. Even better, next time you see a cop in a parking lot or just somewhere you can go up to him (I'd suggest not when their in big groups like you saw in the parking lot) just ask what's up. If you get someone friendly they'll probably tell you as much as they're allowed, or if you get a jerk they'll tell you to get lost. Either way, no harm.

There might be some army mobilization going on in your area, how close are you to a military base or armoury? Just a while back I passed a convoy of about 100 national gaurdsmen in hummers on I-40. They were just moving around equipment I guess, getting ready to ship overseas. If that's the case around you, the increased police presence might be related, increased security to keep any protests or activists actions under control.

But yea, just ask a cop or other people, someone's bound to know and tell you.


btw, how'd you know who was in the minivan and what they looked like? If you see anymore soldiers, try and see if they're army or national guard.