[MLeake]

... who recommended meeting the neighbors, when feasible.

I've lived at both extremes. Grew up in a small town, where all the neighbors were also friends, or at least acquaintances. I can remember a couple of occasions where my sister and I, latch-key kids (Mom taught high school, Dad worked for the state), got sick or injured at home. Yes, we called our parents, but by the time either could respond we had one or two neighbors already there taking care of things.

On the other hand, after lots of years in the Navy, and lots of moves, I've lived in apartment complexes that had very high turnover rates, where I really didn't know anybody.

I greatly preferred the first sort of neighborhood. But it was my own fault for not making much effort to meet the neighbors. In large part, I never bothered because I had friends from my squadrons, or the dojos where I'd train. Still, I should have made more of an effort to meet the people in my building.

Knowing the neighbors makes one much more comfortable about doing health and welfare checks.

But.... even if I don't know the neighbors, if something looked odd, I'd either knock and inquire, or else call the police.

Then again, I'm the type who calls *FHP, 911, etc when I see a stranded motorist on the highway, or a road obstruction, etc - assuming it's not a scenario where I feel I can correct the problem myself. I figure that's what the police and EMS are there for - investigation and, where possible, prevention.