Charlotte Observer: Neighborhood high-tech watch

Neighborhood high-tech watch
Hyde Park residents debate using cameras to catch burglars.
By Christopher D. Kirkpatrick
ckirkpatrick@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Monday, Nov. 03, 2008

Lewis Smith, a video surveillance technician, installs a camera for a resident of Hyde Park Estates. The neighborhood is looking at options for fighting property crime, including installing cameras. PHOTOS BY DAVID T. FOSTER III – dtfoster@charlotteobserver.com

Residents have a lot of crime-fighting tools but sometimes don't employ them until after a crime occurs, experts say. Here are some things you can do to help keep your community safe.

Residents

Install pick-resistant door locks.

Plant painful holly and rose bushes beneath first-floor windows.

Get a dog or put a big dog bowl on the front porch.

Lock windows.

Install an alarm system, motion-sensor lights, and automatic timers for indoor lights.

Stop mail and newspapers when out of town.

Watch for strangers and unfamiliar vehicles.

Report anything suspicious to police.

Watch out for neighbors' homes and ask them to do the same for you.

Subscribe to CMPD's crime e-mail alerts. Go to www.cmpd.org and click on the “notify me” tab.

Track crime through an interactive map at www.cmpd.org; click on “crime mapping” tab.

Neighborhoods

Form a neighborhood association.

Form a neighborhood watch program. Contact coordinator at hkimbell1@cmpd.org.

Improve neighborhood lighting.

Install security cameras.

Set up an e-mail network to spread information.

Hire a private service for crime alerts via phone and e-mail. Go to www.callingpost.com.

After several break-ins near his home, Fred Glenn installed a high-tech security camera to watch his front yard.

Now his Hyde Park Estates neighborhood is considering a network of cameras to record and track visitors, and to capture their car license plates.

Cameras seem a bit radical for some residents, but the neighborhood's dilemma is universal: How far must a community go to protect itself – and what can it expect from police?

“No neighborhood in Charlotte is exempt anymore,” said Vic Wilson, president of the Hyde Park homeowners' association.

Home break-ins jumped 10 percent in Charlotte through September, compared to the same period last year. And only violent crime can make people feel more vulnerable than intrusions into their homes, say police and criminologists.

Hyde Park doesn't experience a lot of crime, but the suburban north Charlotte community off Beatties Ford Road has grown fearful this fall after a rash of car break-ins and several burglaries by thieves who kicked front doors open.


Some residents have already installed security cameras at their homes, and now the neighborhood association is debating whether to broaden the surveillance or add other security measures.


Hyde Park has only two street entrances – perfectly suited for video recording, says Glenn, chairman of the neighborhood's security committee. If approved, cameras would go up at the entrances and later expand to other prime spots in the established, 105-home community.


The security committee voted to research installing up to 16 cameras. A digital video recorder would keep records, and signs would let potential criminals know they're being watched. Several video security companies, whose industry is booming, were slated to give presentations to the community this month.


Some Hyde Park residents, including Glenn, say surveillance could help prevent crime and identify criminals. Others see it as a drastic reaction that raises worries about cost and personal privacy.


Wilson, the 72-year-old Hyde Park president, said he carries a gun, as he has for years. He's never had to fire it, though.


“I'm not going to be abused or have my family abused after working so hard to acquire what little stuff I have,” said Wilson, who's helping his neighborhood search for answers.


“We have to do something before someone gets hurt.”


Few arrests for break-ins


While Charlotte's violent crime rate has declined over the past decade, the rate of property crime has ticked up four of the past five years.


Police generally clear fewer than one in 10 home break-ins with an arrest or other reason for closing the case.


Neighborhoods are fighting back with a variety of measures – with some hiring security companies, forming citizen patrols and installing cameras.


Residents know they're the linchpin to keeping their neighborhoods safe, but some want police to increase patrols and work harder to solve burglaries and other property crime.


Even Charlotte-Mecklenburg's new police chief, Rodney Monroe, says property crimes should become a higher priority. One of his first moves was to put more officers on the street to pay closer attention to various neighborhoods' biggest headaches – usually related to property crime.


Charlotte's North Division, home to Hyde Park, has seen some progress: Police named burglaries that division's top priority. The number of break-ins dropped about 2 percent this year.


Police couldn't immediately provide crime statistics for Hyde Park, but Capt. Andy Leonard estimates the upper- to middle-income neighborhood has reported roughly 10 property crimes this year.


“The randomness of it does greatly impact a neighborhood's perception of safety,” said Deputy Chief Kerr Putney, after releasing Charlotte's latest crime statistics at a news conference last week.


Chief Monroe is also pressing District Attorney Peter Gilchrist to be tougher on criminals who commit property crime. Prosecutors counter that their top priority is locking up violent offenders.


The best defense, police say, is for residents to look out for one another. Neighborhood watch programs – with consistent meetings attended by police, residents and business owners – are crucial. CMPD offers e-mail alerts for neighborhoods and posts crime statistics – and mapping of crimes – online.


“The police are telling us we just need to watch out for each other, but that still didn't keep folks from kicking in front doors,” said Wilson.


Neighborhoods can also hire private security guards and, in locations like Hyde Park, build a guard shack where visitors must sign in. Better lighting and home burglar alarms are also effective.


As for cameras, they can help provide clues about suspects and crimes.


A decade ago, Charles Jones and his neighbors began installing cameras to help combat crime in their more-urban neighborhood, just west of uptown.


Jones, president of the Biddleville/Smallwood community, can see video feeds from his neighbors' cameras, which now cover most of their streets.


Police don't recall if the cameras have provided hard evidence to solve crimes, but they've allowed residents to call in crime tips and give descriptions of suspects. And neighbors say the cameras simply make them feel safer.


But some Hyde Park residents aren't sure if installing cameras is the best approach.


Burglars kicked down Joel and Karin Dancy's front door last month at about noon. No one was home, and the alarm system blared, scaring away the intruders. One grabbed a jewelry box from a front bedroom but spilled cuff links and other men's jewelry across the front lawn as he ran.


Karin Dancy said cameras might have been useful in identifying the burglars, but she also wants balance between security and personal privacy, she said. The tight-knit community of families and retirees has nothing to hide from one another, she said. But she worries that visitors might recoil at the thought of their comings and goings being videotaped.


Installing outdoor security cameras is also a complex and expensive process, said Randy Kossler, general manager of Priority One Security in Charlotte. The equipment for a 16-camera system with a DVR could run more than $40,000, not including installation, he said.


The cameras need to be climate-controlled and installed in weather-resistant boxes, and the recorder has to reside somewhere safe, he said. Outside wiring needed for the system can be a problem and an extra expense: “Is someone going to want their front lawn trenched up?”


Police say cameras might help, if neighborhoods are willing to shoulder the expense.


“Any time a community wants to take ownership of their own safety, that's good,” Putney said. “But they may want to think it through.”


Private guards expensive


Living around the corner from the Dancys, resident Charles Brandon said he expects Hyde Park's crime to get worse because of nearby Northlake Mall, which opened three years ago and has drawn greater car and foot traffic to the once-rural area.


But the 65-year-old retiree said installing cameras would be an overreaction. He'd rather see a security guard patrolling, as in some other neighborhoods. But that can be expensive, too.


Staff for Merchants Patrol say demand for private security is up and that the Charlotte company is booked through January.


Companies are coy about revealing price lists because of competition, but one industry representative said costs range from $12.50 to $50 an hour per guard. Neighborhoods and other clients can also pay monthly rates.


Some Charlotte-area residents want to patrol their streets. It's free, except for your time.


In Windsor Park, volunteers regularly ride around 26 miles of streets and report findings to police. Barclay Downs residents near SouthPark have established block captains for reporting problems.


In Plaza Midwood, a violent crime victim who was shot recently organized a citizen's patrol that is considering carrying guns – drawing criticism from some neighborhood activists and praise from others.


Best plan: Nosy neighbors


Despite some residents' desire to fight crime in novel ways, Charlotte police advise traditional watch programs with residents keeping a sharp eye out for suspicious characters.


But Charlotte officer Craig Allen, in charge of neighborhood crime prevention programs, said that residents have become more isolated and sometimes don't know their neighbors, making it harder to spot strangers.


“Back in the 1950s and 1960s, you at least knew your neighbors,” Allen said.


“Nosy neighbors are the best,” he said. “It's not going to completely cut out crime. But if people are watching out and they see suspicious activity and call 911, then we can get a car out there.”