Ah, the onset of August — just about the time that the abundant moisture in the air and on our brows is one of the few things more uncomfortable than the expected spike in criminal activity.

The police blotter must be working overtime this weekend — in the last forty-eight hours alone, we’ve seen reports of a shooting on 21st Street NE, a car theft on 20th Street NW, the 1400 block of Girard Street NW being closed due to a special police officer discharging his weapon during a confrontation, and a street robbery in District Heights which went terribly wrong and led to at least four people being shot. Additionally, a 47-year-old man was shot and killed on the 4200 block of Illinois Avenue NW early Saturday morning — police are asking anyone with knowledge of what happened in that incident to come forward.

So what’s a city-dweller to do? Well, Northeast D.C. neighborhood blog Frozen Tropics has good advice to share: “be careful, not fearful, but careful.” Unless you end up going to pick up a television you arranged to buy on Craigslist, and, upon arrival, find the sellers with a sizable piece of iron demanding your wallet — then, you know, go ahead and be as afraid as you’d like.