You know, we already do this here in Highland Park. For years now. Tuesday nights at 7:30, we meet at Tazza D'Oro and walk the neighborhood for an hour or so. It's called a "fitness walk," not a dog walk, but most of us walk with dogs anyway. Babies, too. See http://tazzadoro.net/news/category/walking/. We haven't specifically been a crime watch walk, but we certainly have been visible. Join us! David _____ From: neighborhood-bounces@highlandparkpa.com [mailto:neighborhood-bounces@highlandparkpa.com] On Behalf Of PEGGY DRAKE Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:33 PM To: Joe Manno; neighborhood@highlandparkpa.com Subject: [Highland Park] Group dog-walking to deter crime I'm offering an idea we found helpful in the neighborhood where I lived in Baltimore. (We even won two national prizes for it.) We organized group dog walks, usually twice a week (one weekday night and on Friday night), where groups of us would walk up and down each street. Lots of "street kids" are apprehensive of dogs; we were able to see how the neighborhood was doing. This could be done with multiple groups and can include residents without dogs (such as me), who can help walk dogs or just walk along with the group. We let the police know when we'd be out and about and had a cell phone to call in any suspicious activity (this began when cell phones were not that common). Highland Park is larger in land size than Patterson Place (a row house community, 3 blocks by 4 blocks with a mix of alley-style and wider streets with 2 arterial streets at either end and a large park that forms its south boundaries - one group was all we needed), so multiple groups might be best to cover all of Highland Park. Has anything like this been tried? Peggy on Callowhill St. _____ From: Joe Manno <joe.manno@gmail.com> To: neighborhood@highlandparkpa.com Sent: Mon, January 25, 2010 2:36:38 PM Subject: Re: [Highland Park] Another car break-in I definitely agree with everyone's ideas. Keeping cars locked and without visible valuables is the number one way to prevent a lot of these break-ins. My girlfriend and I may have witnessed another attempt on Saturday night near our house on Stanton Avenue near Dilworth and the gardens. It was around 7 or 8 on Saturday night as we were leaving our house to walk the dog when we noticed several teenagers in front of our house checking out cars and looking up our driveway. There were probably about 5 of them, all young black males wearing oversized hoodies and jeans. Upon noticing us or someone/thing else they started walking quickly towards Dilworth. Right as we were about to call the cops a squad car flew down the street, pulled over, and questioned the kids. He ended up letting them go as there was no reason for him to hold them. We asked the officer and also told him that we had seen them looking up our driveway and in cars and he told us that they were called because of this. Another cop car came by as well with lights and sirens on but only spoke with the other cop. We decided to walk our dog slowly to observe where the kids were heading and we watched them cross the Meadow Street Bridge towards Larimer. My guess would be that they live down there. This side of Stanton sees very little foot traffic, especially in the Winter time when the Highland Park Pool is closed. Hopefully the people committing these break-ins will be apprehended soon. It is obvious that the crimes are escalating, most likely because they have been getting away with them. --Joe Manno On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 9:53 AM, Jim Banko <jrbanko@gmail.com> wrote: Ava and everyone else, Those are definitely good ideas. Another suggestion that may be even more useful: If you have access to a decent camera and time to grab it, get some pictures or videos of these people in action. This would obviously allow police to better identify them. I don't think it is illegal to look into other people's car windows, but it certainly is suspicious and it may be enough probable cause to allow police to round up some suspects, given the recent rash of break-ins. Anything we can do may help put an end to this. Jim Banko On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 5:05 PM, Ava DeMarco <ava@littlearth.com> wrote: I have not paid much attention to these break-in emails until the last couple of weeks--is it just me or do they seem to be really escalating? Is there anything we can do as a community to try and catch these thieves? Would any of these help? -Pinpoint each event on a map of the neighborhood to try and see if there's a pattern, give this info to the police so we can ask police to step up patrols on certain streets? -Can people give a more detailed description if they see the person(s) so we can try and figure out if it is the same few people over an over of if is many different people? Both the people below had cars that were unlocked, and one had their book bag in the car. It is a pain, but if we all made sure our cars were locked and there was nothing left in them of value, would the thieves just eventually look for a neighborhood with easier targets? Not that that's really a desirable outcome. Any other thoughts? Best Regards, Ava DeMarco President, Littlearth 2231 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-471-0909, ext 127 www.littlearth.com <http://www.littlearth.com/> _____ From: neighborhood-bounces@highlandparkpa.com [mailto:neighborhood-bounces@highlandparkpa.com] On Behalf Of Sarah Trbovic Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:03 AM To: susan_benintend@yahoo.com Cc: neighborhood@highlandparkpa.com Subject: Re: [Highland Park] Another car break-in There were 3 young men active on Callowhill and N Euclid last night as well. I saw them going from car to car looking for unlocked doors. They found one of my neighbors cars unlocked and ransacked the glove compartment. This was around 8pm. Police came by around 8:30 but the 3 guys were long gone. Jan 21, 2010 02:54:34 PM, susan_benintend@yahoo.com wrote: we're in the 6200 block of Wellesley Avenue and there were two car break-ins last night. My husband unfortunately forgot to lock his car, and they opened the doors and ransacked the glove box. Got away with minor things - cables and spare change. A gentleman on our street was less fortunate, though. They broke his front passenger window with a rock and stole his bookbag. He called the police and when they arrived, they said they couldn't fingerprint a rock. These seem to be happening quite frequently, and obviously the theives patrol nightly for unlocked car doors. Let's not help them! Lock your doors!!! _____ -- -- <http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood> -- <http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood>