Ripon’s elected leaders get it.

Working to crime proof a community is the best way to augment the men and women that put their lives on the line protecting others.

The first city in the Northern San Joaquin Valley to deploy a wireless camera surveillance system tied into high profile targets such as financial institutions that not once but twice enabled police to capture bank robbers before they disappeared in the wind have embraced a decidedly non-tech crime prevention tool — 7-foot high residential fences.

The Ripon City Council earlier this month approved kicking up the maximum height of residential fencing from six to seven feet. It was done primarily for privacy and screening but 7-foot fences serve as a passive crime prevention measure.

It is hard for criminal to “case” a yard and look for entry points to a house if they can’t peer over a fence.

This is not just a hypothetical statement.

Thanks to the fact Manteca for a brief enlightened moment allowed 7 foot residential fences I was saved from being a crime victim at least once.

I bought my home in 2008.

The fence along the alley was barely standing up. It needed to be replaced.

I went down to the Manteca building department and inquired about a permit. I was told I didn’t need a permit. But what surprised me was the fact they said I could put in place a 7-foot fence if I wanted.

That struck me odd as a few years prior during a Manteca City Council meeting a rather angry citizen was blasting the city for receiving a notice of violation for having a 7-foot high fence. He was told it had to be reduced to a 6-foot height or else.

The City of Manteca up until 2015 had a long track record of being as clear as 1040 instructions when it came to fence heights.

The city zoning code from 1992 to 2012 allowed 7-foot high fences which was different than the 6-foot limit spelled out in municipal ordinances. In January 2013 the zoning code was changed to the 6-foot limit. Then the state upped the maximum allowable fence without a permit to 7-foot from 6-foot.

In 2016 the Manteca Planning Commission — despite objections from the Manteca Police Department — voted 4-1 with then chairman Jose Nuno dissenting — to recommend the council allow 7-foot high fences.

Nuno sided with police brass who argued higher fencing would lead to more workmen’s compensation claims from officers scaling fences while chasing suspects. It was noted one officer had racked up four worker’s compensation claims directly tied to being injured scaling fences while weighted down with 20 or so pounds of gear.

The rest of the Commission was convinced the higher fences were an effective deterrent to keep crimes from committed.

The council ended up rejecting the commission’s recommendation despite more than a few people arguing it would help secure their homes and property.

To avoid people who legally erected 7-foot fences when the city had conflicting rules from being hounded by code enforcement, the city allowed those with 7-foot fences to fill forms that were sent out with utility bill mailings to indicate if they had a 7-foot fence and the year it was put in place so it would be on file. The goal was to protect them from code enforcement actions that would require them to tear out the fence and subject them to $500 fines.

I can attest to 7-foot fencing keeping me from becoming a crime victim.

My home backs up to an alley. I did not get a new fence that set me back $5,100 to replace an older 6-foot fence until after a month after I moved in.

There was evidence that people had tried to scale the fence based on knocked out boards to enter my yard or try to do so on three different occasions in less than two weeks.

One time looking out a back window, I could see someone trying to peek over the fence as they were walking down the alley.

I did not call the police. I simply put the boards back in place and kept my fingers crossed.

Neighbors at the time said there were homeless people sleeping in the neighborhood who had a tendency to pilfer items they could sell for a few quick bucks.

The 7-foot fence eliminated the problem.

But then six month a later a new “security” problem popped up. An absentee landlord rented a home four doors down to a couple that proceeded to establish a drug house.

That led to more foot and bicycle traffic going down my alley in the wee hours of the morning than during the daytime on Yosemite Avenue.

It took the police close to two years to bust the drug house. They were aware of it but informed several neighbors and myself that it wasn’t among the 10 worst in Manteca at the time. Thanks to diligent work police were finally able to make a legal case that stuck in court and the dealer went away to prison and the drug house was cleaned up.

One time when the drug house was still in business I was driving down Powers Avenue at 2 a.m. on my way home from work when I was passed by two Manteca Police cars. Imagine my surprise pulling up to my house and finding police in my front yard.

They were searching for a guy that neighbors — taking a smoke break on their front porch after watching a late movie and before going to bed — saw not once but twice trying to climb over my fence. Each time he fell backwards because he couldn’t quite scale it. Officers arrested him 30 minutes later after he managed to get into the back yard of a home down the street that had a 6-foot fence.

The Manteca City Council needs to allow citizens to do as much passive improvements as possible that are designed to reduced crime.

Since they can’t put a police officer on every block, allowing people to have 7-foot high fences will help deter crime.

The argument that helped persuade the council back in 2016 was the police chief saying officers couldn’t easily look over a 7-foot high fence as opposed to one a foot shorter if they are looking for a bad guy.

If the council at the time had given it more thought they might have concluded that the bad guys can also peer over fences easier and that the likelihood of a police officer needing to do so as opposed to how many times a 7-foot high fence deters a criminal act that the best decision is to allow 7-foot fences.

It’s just like narrower travel lanes made by putting bike lanes on a road deters many people for speeding as a passive traffic safety measure, 7-foot high fences deter many criminals as a passive crime prevention measure.