Street Filled With Police Cars

I was making supper and heard a noise outside. Just the sound of a car door. But it sounded like more than one car. Hmmm. Too busy to look. It's just a car door.
I heard more noises outside. Alright, lets have a look.
A police car was parked outside the house. There was another police car in front of it. Then another police car drove past my house as I was looking, and parked down the street. I started counting. One, two, three, four, and a ghost car. Wait a minute, there was another car down the street blocking traffic. It's lights were on. Was that police car number six?
I went downstairs, got my shoes on, and went outside. Sure enough it was a sixth police car on the street. But what was up? Some of the cars were empty, others had our men in blue inside them. Nobody was on the street. What house were they visiting? It was hard to tell because they were spread out so far down the street. If I had to guess, it would be the blue house, but I wasn't sure.
I went back into the house and back to dinner. But I kept looking out the window. Every now and then I took a peek. They I saw someone go from one of the cars into the blue house. Of course that was the house. It is a rooming house, and is nothing but trouble.
Yet again, the blue house has police attending. But to what end?
The police do not tell citizens why they attend houses on the street. It is not our concern. These things rarely show up in police reports or news clips. They don't show up on the crime stat map. They don't show up anywhere.
Another event in the night, never to be heard about. Another event to fall through the cracks into the abyss of non-information. Another police event at the blue house. And another question in the minds of those living on the street.
We are used to not knowing. We have police on the street so often. We are used to not seeing these events on the news, and not reading about them in the paper. We are used to the events not appearing in police reports or on the crime stats.
It is just another night in the North End, nothing talked about, nothing known. Just six police cars on the street. Nothing happening here.

Bicycles And People Explained

If you live in the 'hood, you see it all the time. You see people standing in the lane or on the front street. They wait. And they wait. Then a bicycle pulls up, and the bicycle leaves.
What just happened? A drug deal. This is how drugs are delivered in the North End. And they are delivered all the time. Sometimes one house can have several deliveries in a single day. But it happens in broad daylight and at night. It happens all the time.
This particular incident had two different people waiting for their deliveries in front of the same house, and both had drugs delivered by bicycle. The people riding the bicycles are generally kids, youth, young people.
We see these kids riding around the neighbourhood all the time. When a kid is stabbed at 2:00am in the North End while riding his bicycle, this is where our thoughts go. A kid running drugs. A kid running drugs for some gang. A kid, because they are protected by the Young Offenders Act.
Bicycles come and bicycles go. And people wait outside their houses for another delivery.
Just another day in the hood.

Bicycles And People

Male stands in wait.

Bicycle comes, bicycle goes.

Woman stands in wait.

Bicycle comes, bicycle goes.

Police come.

Another police car comes.

Officer goes to front door.

Officer directed to try back door.

Nothing happening here.