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This past Sunday morning, 1:45AM, my doorbell rings. I get up to check and a woman is asking to use the phone. “I have an emergency, I need to get some where, I need to use your phone.” She was African American, about 5’4″, glasses, short hair, medium build. Although she did not appear outwardly threatening, something didn’t feel right. I asked her to wait a minute and went to look out other adjacent windows to see if anyone else was outside. When I got back to the door (less than a minute) she was gone. Although I never opened the door, it was still unsettling. A good response for this type of situation (which did not occur to me at 1:45AM): “Let me call the police for you. Just wait a few minutes, they’ll be right here.” This type of thing seems to be on the rise in our area, and residents should never open their door to complete strangers.

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