In my previous blog post, I wrote that I had thought that Dickinson would return to a kind of middle-class or lower middle-class normalcy after the Oil Boom was over.  Instead, the people in Dickinson appear to have returned to a Street Survivor or Prison Life mentality, which I never knew was going to happen.

Throughout my life, I have met and become friends with people who were convicted murderers, attempted murderers, thieves, drug dealers, and drug smugglers.  These were people who came from the Street, who were Street Survivors, and Prison Life people.  I learned from numerous talks and discussions with these people, what their crimes were, what their methods were, what their scams were, and what life in prison is like.

Also in my life, I have met murderers, attempted murderers, thieves, drug dealers, and drug smugglers, who were not my friends, who were trying to victimize me or steal from me.  I learned from these people too, their methods and their scams, these Street Survivors and Prison Life people.

Below are some examples of what to expect from Street Survivor people or Prison Life people, that are real incidents and not made up:

1. The simple con of walking up to a person on the street and telling them some story about car running out of gas, wife being in the hospital, and begging for money.
2. The next level con, of walking up to a person on the street and taking up their time distracting them with some story, while an accomplice enters their home and looks for valuables.
3. The next level con, of walking up to a person on the street, talking to them to quickly learn specific details about their life, if they have money, are alone, or are vulnerable in some way, and being able to gain more access to valuables and bank accounts.
4. The simple violent crime, of walking up to a person on the street, hitting them over the head or stabbing them, taking their wallet, purse, and vehicle.
5. The more planned out violent crime, of walking up to a person on the street, hitting them over the head or stabbing them, putting their body in the car trunk, taking their wallet, purse, vehicle, key set, returning to or entering their home, taking their jewelry, firearms, valuables, money, credit cards, checks, and hiding the body somewhere so that there is a longer amount of time to access bank accounts, credit card accounts, and use the vehicle.

Regarding the numbered list above, if you went out to eat at a restaurant in Idaho, the other restaurant patrons would be thinking about the Thai iced tea that they ordered, the egg rolls that they had ordered, or the orange chicken that they had ordered, but in Dickinson if you went out to a restaurant, the local staff and the local patrons would be thinking about their list of things that they would like to try to do to you.

If you go out in Dickinson, or even if you don’t go out in Dickinson, the local people have such hatred, hostility, and meanness, that they are constantly trying to hatch some scheme to harm or steal from others, just like people in prison who have hours and hours to think and hate.

The people that I knew who had been in prison, would tell me about how the people in the prison kitchen had a huge vat of boiling water, which they dumped on someone who didn’t do what they wanted, and he died after several days.  Or, they would cut a mop handle on a long diagonal, but not completely through, so that it would break and have a long pointed end, and then when the person came who they wanted to kill, they would break the mop handle, and stab, stab, stab, stab with the pointy broken mop handle.

Dickinson is full of people with this Street Survivor mentality and this Prison Life mentality.  Once you understand this, everything else in Dickinson will make more sense and fall into place.

This is why the Police in Dickinson, North Dakota are so constantly ever present, up and down Villard Street and Main Street every single minute, while other Police vehicles are parked in the shadows on the side streets.  They are not a Police force, they are more like Prison Guards who have to watch these people in Dickinson every single minute.  Does this make sense now?