Same thing with my neighborhood. Always people looking out for each other. There weren’t things like neighborhood patrols.
Today, for kids going to school on the bus, in a gated community, the parents stand outside with the kids until they get on the bus.
We always had the older kids and when we got older and they moved on we took over and protected our neighborhood.
If there were bigger problems the dads would sort someone out but we always knew kids could be kids and were safe.
When I worked up in Boston I talked to a bnch of people from South Boston and the North end.
All of them said the neighborhoods were safer, people like Whitey bulger though a scum bag did keep the drugs away form kids and robberies never happened. There was no need for the police.
People in the Italian north end said the same about the mafia.
Years ago the head of the statue of Christopher Columbus was knocked off and when the locals were asked about it off the media they all said that it would never have happened years ago, same as homeless living on the street or robberies going on.
Both communities said the yuppies moved in and started to change the neighborhoods and eventually families moved out.
Today Boston advertises those two places as Irish and Italian, but they are not, they used to be but not today