Night watchman patrolling Lantzville streets
LANTZVILLE — Lantzville is not some dark, dead-end street community for night crawlers to roam about freely doing as they please.
That’s the message a lonewolf night watchman is trying to drive home in the small town seemingly plagued by property crime and mischief of late.
A man, who only wants to be identified as “Matt”, a lifetime Lantzville resident, has taken it upon himself to conduct patrols in the middle of the night, watching for any suspicious activity.
Matt says it hit home for him when his truck was broken into in early June.
“It kind of just triggered a sense I didn’t know I had. It’s like ‘hey these guys are out doing something at night, let’s get out there and try to be proactive and catch them and report this stuff while it’s happening, not so much after the fact,’” he says.
Comments from residents on a Lantzville community Facebook group paint the picture of increased crime in the sleepy district, with Matt saying it seems mailboxes, cars and sheds are being targeted.
Matt, who owns and operates a Lantzville-based business, says he usually hits the streets in his large truck, equipped with a powerful light, between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m., at random times.