I saw the movie and loved it. Ben Ratner's character in it is pretty much me.
When we first moved into the area the place was rife with junkie hookers (like Katie Boalnd's character) and a variety of petty thieves constantly milling around looking for anything not nailed down (like the tool thief/pimp played by Tygh Runyan in the film).
We were broken into 11 times in the space of two years. The police, we found out, wouldn't bother showing up for Break-and-enter calls, much less "Hookers in the alley" calls...which left us with Night Patrol.
Night Patrol folks are not--as the above poster called them--"Vigilante Goons", their entire M.O is to just stand around with the Hooker until she decides to leave (They don't get a lot of business when guys in reflective vests stand there writing down the license plates of the Johns should they drive up).
In fact, the whole tone of the above poster's commentary seemed to be that poor, honest, hard-working, Drug-addled Hookers were being unfairly targeted by mean-spirited, violent lowlife home owners.
The fact that it's been the better part of two years since we've been broken into shows that a variety of tacks--including Night Patrol, "Zero Tolerance" for anyone suspicious lurking in the alleys and constant vigilance has started to bear fruit as far as cleaning the neighbourhood up.
Police will answer calls occasionally now! It's still not safe to leave anything unattended in your car, but the chances of finding used Hypodermic needles in your backseat seems at an all-time low.
The odd altercation still occurs with some shifty low-life, but with nothing like the frequency of previous years.
If all of this has made life hard for Drug-addled hookers and the Two bit Junkie thieves who sponge off them, well, I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over it.
Anyway, excellent movie all around. The quality up on the screen really shone.
