Love thy neighbor — and watch the crime stats change.
The mayor reminded us in his State of the City address that Tracy was rated California’s 13th safest city in 2007. Still, you don’t have to read the blotter or listen to a police scanner to feel angst about crime in our town, especially burglaries, robberies and vandalism.
Homicides might be on your list, too, if you’ve lived in the neighborhoods surrounding Alden Park since Sept. 9, 2007. That’s when a San Leandro man was shot in the head at close range and then found along a park walkway at 10 o’clock in the morning.
That crime is still unsolved, but in the seven months since it happened, something really good has taken place in the surrounding blocks, including Palm Circle, Sequoia Boulevard, Beechnut Avenue, Chestnut Avenue, Birch Drive and Hickory Avenue.
Crime is down — way down.
From January to September, before the fatal shooting, nine thefts were reported in the Alden Park area; since then, there have been only two. There were 17 burglaries from January to September ’07, and only one was reported in the months that have followed. Vandalism reports dropped from 13 to five, and vehicle theft from five reports to one.
“To me, that’s such a punch for Neighborhood Watch,” said Irene Rose, the city’s crime prevention officer. “There it is, in black and white. What a difference it makes when neighbors meet and get to know one another and put up signs and share knowledge. Now we have some educated people in this area, and they know what to do.”
The week of the fatal shooting, the nearby residents banded together to launch the area’s first Neighborhood Watch, which is a crime-prevention program that invites residents to work with law enforcement to reduce crime. Now this group is one of the most active of Tracy’s 127 watch groups.
The neighbors met Saturday, during a windy afternoon at the park, to hand out stickers and fliers, with tips about how to stay safe and how to report suspicious activities. Jeff Gamble, a commuter who’s lived in the neighborhood for just two years, led the group with the help of Elia Yniguez, a 71-year-old who’s lived there for 36 years.
We applaud their initiative and encourage them to keep up their good work. Sometimes, Neighborhood Watch groups are established with a flurry after a crime has been committed, but then participants lost interest. Keeping Neighborhood Watch functioning is no easy task but one that needs emphasis by the police department and residents alike.
Law enforcement is made much stronger when we exercise our civic duty of looking out for one another, with groups like Neighborhood Watch and Tracy Crime Stoppers.
We’re told that with time, those grassroots efforts pay dividends. We think they already have.
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