Is a reward offered for being an informant? Seems like there should be for risking your life and the life of your family.

Pepper: I was wondering the same thing about some form of payment. We are to : "get descriptions of people, vehicles and the direction of travel, and call the Kent Police Department at 330-673-7732" Sounds like a job.

Police get paid for their discovery of drug dealers/ activity via a paycheck. How will we get paid for our input?

Snitching could be dangerous work.

The fact that you want paid to be a good neighbor and to help keep your neighborhood safe and clean is ridiculous. We aren't in a large gang area where you are going to be retaliated against or "taken down" for reporting drug activity. Not to mention you can report it anounymously.

Your "reward or payment" is that your neighborhood and community becomes a safer place in which to live.

I guess i can see it both ways. Certainly we must be vigilant to threats to our neighborhoods but there is a huge "gray" area here. We're not talking just "meth labs." All prohibitions can easily turn law-abiding citizens into informants ("snitches" to use the vernacular) and I expect people would exercise judgment in this area. I wonder how many people would turn in their neighbor for suspected use of marijuana? Yes, it is illegal but the major threat in this case is the laws, not the drug. Again, outside of drug dealing there is a large gray area and i hope people consider that.

very interesting...my neighbor has his blinds up all the time plus he is a foreigner and acts suspicious...wouldn't be surprised if he is a Muslim too. If there are drugs in my neighborhood I want them out. Thanks for the tips Patch. My eyes will be watching him much closer and I may just call the police tonight and have them keep an eye out too.

also I have been hearing rumors that marihuana may be legalized soon. We need to arrest, take fines and put as many people as possible in jail before this eventual miscarriage of justice takes place in the good state of Ohio. This must be milked and I encourage all good family oriented Kent people to report all drug use before the laws change. I don't care if it means snooping around in other peoples garbage or calling our local law enforcement over suspicious behavior. We need to send a loud message to our community that drug use won't be tolerated. Thanks Patch. You've give this good citizen plenty of ammunition to move forward

Maybe we should go through each others' garbage for evidence of tax fraud too.

Want to bust some drug dealers? Try every frat house in the city of Kent.

"•Windows are blocked out, preventing neighbors from seeing in."

I thought those were called curtains. And I question why peeping toms seem to be encouraged in this article.

Mars - Great comments.
Yeah, I have curtains... and I have blinds that are open or closed depending on the weather, etc. If I catch my neighbor digging in my trash or peeping in my windows .... well.... lets just say they better not. We already have to worry about morons and identity theft. Mary Alice- I feel sorry for you and your children. Maybe you should find a city that better suits your lifestyle.

Best 6 signs your skinny neighbor is a drug-dealer.

Snow-rusted jalopy pulls up playing Marley’s “Burnin’.” Sage smelling smoke pours from the windows. Between cigarette lighter flickers, you notice a “Kush For President” decal on the window; there's no bumper sticker proudly proclaiming-- “My kid is smarter than your kid—again!”

Residence has a dirt lawn, rusted-out vehicle-- hood up-- empty Red Bull cans, Twinkie wrappers, mold-crusted Pizza boxes, and the resident doesn’t attend Kent State.

A secretive neighbor is seldom present, but his numerous infrared video surveillance cameras and scary Guard Dog are.

During your unpaid 24/7 “community service” gainful employment surveillance, you see an expensive 52” LCD TV delivered; you observe "suspect" crawling around in the front yard muttering obscenities, shining his expensive I-Phone light on the ground at 2:30 AM. You know he doesn’t wear contacts because you went through his trash looking for discarded tax returns and found optometrist’s receipts instead.

You hear a loud boom. When you open the back door to investigate, your secretive neighbor’s vicious Guard Dog is there begging for dinner. As you feed him scrapes, you notice a noxious chemical smell, and it is not caused by surreptitious Fracking. You also observe your neighbor smoldering on the back porch.

Your secretive neighbor only shops at Wal-Mart, Stop & Go, and he publically laments the loss of Lawson’s Chipped Ham.

Mars and Alex - I'm certainly enjoying your comments.
On a more serious note I am quite sure the police department never intended for anyone to dig in their neighbors trash or peep in their windows. I believe Obama has a fleet of drones that will be in town to handle those tasks.

In Kent if one of the signs of a drug dealer doesn't conform to Kent's sign ordinance, he/she will get more grief from the City than a judge will ever give him/her.