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CodeJockey:

I live very near you. . . you should not hesitate to call the police on these matters.

Are you familiar with Fort Worth Code Blue? It is a citizen patrol group (non confrontational - eyes and ears only) that patrol their neighborhoods (on foot, bike, or car) and use a police radio to call in strange behavior. I was on it (just went inactive) and got to know several of the Neighborhood Police Officers (NPOs) for our area. They are VERY interested in citing / arresting door-to-door solicitors that do not have permits.

My NPO, Barry Sawyer, essentially said to call him anytime I have somebody going door-to-door. They will check them out and ensure they have permits from the city to be soliciting in this manner. If they don't, they get ticketed and sent away.

He has a lot of stats about the profile of some of these guys hired to go door-to-door. Obviously, there are no background checks. Some of them are hard workers trying to make ends meet, but some of them are legitimate bonafide BGs. He also had some interesting stats correlating door-to-door salespeople to burglaries of motor vehicles and a few anecdotal stories from DFW about legitimate permitted door-to-door vendors committing heinous sexual assaults or murders.

Even if you don't join Code Blue, I'd recommend getting to know your NPO and getting on his email list. They sent out crime stats for the beats in their area - including addresses - for almost everything except domestics and other "private" violations. All burglaries, BMVs, robberies, assaults, sexual assaults, etc. are on there. We're in "North Division David District" up here. Charlie District is south of I-820 to downtown.

PM if you need an email address to track down the right NPO for you.