A neighborhood watch is trying to cut down on property thefts in northeast Greenwood by immediately sending out email alerts reporting crimes and suspicious activity.
Information the group has provided has netted two or three arrests in the last couple of months, according to founder Christopher McQueen.
Dispatches go out through Google Groups, making them instantly available to smartphone users.
McQueen, a 34-year-old property manager, started the group in November. He said Thursday he did it because he would hear different people mention a theft or two. Added together, they constituted a lot of crime, but nobody realized how widespread the problem was, he said.
It currently has roughly 225 members, about 100 of whom have joined in the past week since a meeting with police detectives Mark Miller and Toby Meredith at St. John’s United Methodist Church.
Ideally, the city could eventually take over the program, allowing it to issue the alerts and extend the program to other neighborhoods, he said.
McQueen said they’ll see how effective the email system is at deterring crime before evaluating the possibility of patrolling streets.
Police Chief Henry Purnell said two suspects were walking across the bridge into North Greenwood after 10 p.m. and checking car doors. Police picked them up, and thefts have slowed since then, he said.
The department has also added an extra patrol to North Greenwood in the evening and at night, he said.
Purnell said the key is locking doors. None of the vehicles that have been burglarized were broken into, but all were left unlocked, he said.
“Times have changed. It’s not like it used to be where you could leave things laying out in the yard,” Purnell said.
McQueen said often residents decide that getting a police report over the theft of a garden tool or bicycle isn’t worth the trouble. But he said they should always get one because it can help police build a case and see what areas are being hit.
He said it’s also important to keep a list of serial numbers on high-priced items.
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
