news-record.com

GREENSBORO — A slow drive through New Irving Park on a weekday morning will show a neighborhood vibrant with activity.

On one street, a woman walks her dog. Around the corner, another woman takes a late-morning jog. Contractors are working everywhere — plumbers, electricians, landscapers, cable TV installers.

But despite the many eyes and ears all over the neighborhood — and right under everyone’s noses — a group of burglars is preying on residents’ homes and chipping away at the neighborhood’s sense of security.

l l l

By 11 a.m. Tuesday, a New Irving Park resident called to report a suspicious green van rolling through the area.

It wasn’t really a van, but a sport utility vehicle — with police Sgt. Bud Blaylock behind the wheel.

Blaylock has spent a lot of time in New Irving Park lately, as well as in nearby Kirkwood and other neighborhoods in the area hit by the recent spate of burglaries.

For much of 2009, the city has seen a decrease in overall crime compared to last year. Except home burglaries, which are up 3 percent, and 11 percent last month compared to September 2008, according to police.

Last month, officers arrested a man in connection with several New Irving Park break-ins, but burglaries continue.

A neighborhood meeting Monday night revealed that police are close to making more arrests of one or two groups targeting the area.

As he rolled through the area Tuesday morning, Blaylock and other officers were looking to stave off a burglary before it took place.

From 8:30 a.m. through noon is when most of the break-ins have been occurring. The burglars wait for homeowners to leave and then make their move. The take is usually expensive electronics and jewelry.

But with people seemingly watching everywhere, why has New Irving Park — and several other areas of the city — continued to get hit?

“Look at it from a patrol officer’s perspective,” Blaylock said, pointing to many homes. “You can’t see behind the houses. You can’t see beside some of the houses, and it’s difficult to see in front of some of the houses because of the layout.”

Mature trees and shrubs provide cover for someone waiting for the ideal time to kick in a door.

“Each homeowner needs to look at their home through their eyes and then try to see it through the eyes of a criminal and identify the weak areas.”

That includes trimming bushes tall enough to conceal someone, installing solid dead-bolt locks, longer screws on door strike plates, better lighting, burglary alarms — and getting to know your neighbors who will watch out for you.

l l l

Increasingly, neighborhoods are becoming active partners with police. They share information with police and each other.

The most commonly used tool is an e-mail list. On Monday, residents in New Irving Park were alerted of a morning break-in within a few hours through a Yahoo e-mail group that residents maintain.

Other neighborhoods across the city have found success in reducing crime by simply getting the word out.

Gail Barger, who leads the community watch program in Westerwood, a neighborhood west of downtown, said her updates go out to a list of nearly 400 e-mail addresses.

“It grows all the time,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much it’s helped us.”

Say, for example, a resident encounters someone suspicious soliciting door-to-door .

“Immediately, nearly 400 people know about it,” Barger said. “We watch out for everything. And anything that’s not right is reported.”

Police are included on the list as well, keeping them in the loop.

Frequent events — a picnic, Christmas party, chili cook-off — help people get to know one another and feel part of the neighborhood.

“It’s really wonderful to walk around a neighborhood and you wave to people and you know each other.”

There’s no question that the increased vigilance pays off, said Sonya Lowe, who leads the community watch in Fisher Park.

There, the list has grown from about 100 when she took over the position to more than 200 now.

“I’ve seen it work,” Lowe said. “Once you inform and educate neighbors ... they’re more willing to give out information. They’re more aware of their surroundings. They’re more active in your neighborhood.”

Aside from increased police patrols and neighborhood contact, city officials are helping residents who have home alarm systems.

The Greensboro City Council on Tuesday night enacted a moratorium on fines for false alarms until its Nov. 10 meeting, when council members will be able to consider the issue .

One resident who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting said his home alarm would be more effective if police were called first in the event of an alarm.

Alarm companies sometimes call the homeowner first to verify that there is actually a break-in, delaying the arrival of police.

Councilman Zack Matheny said the city responds to more than 12,000 false alarms a year. Alarm owners are fined after the third false alarm.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or jason.hardin@news-record.com