NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
An Antioch neighborhood is reaping the benefits of forming a neighborhood watch at a time when gang activity and burglaries were plaguing the area.
The Oak Highlands/Deer Valley Homeowners Association formed a neighborhood watch about five years ago.
"We had a lot of problems with gang violence in the area," neighborhood watch director Don Johnson said. "Right on this corner out here [Oak Chase Drive and Deer Valley Trail] there was a gang fight one night where they strategically blocked off the streets so no one could get in or out."
Then in a separate incident in another part of the neighborhood there was a large fight.
"We had thefts from cars and from open garages," Johnson said.
Soon after, the neighbors decided to form a neighborhood watch so they could alert police to criminal activity in the area.
"We physically patrolled the neighborhood and left notices on people's garages when we found them open," Johnson said. "The last three home break-ins we had, the guys left the building in handcuffs."
Metro police's south precinct reports about a 45% drop in home burglaries over the past year. The precinct uses a flex team with officers in uniforms and plain clothes to help catch burglars.
But, the commander also said the increased involvement of neighborhood watches has helped curbed crime in the precinct.
"Every time we add one member to a neighborhood watch or every time one person makes a decision to form a group we consider that an addition to our team," he said. "It is frustrating for us and frustrating for the citizens for us to just be in a reactive mode."
In the 79 square miles of the south precinct there are 124 neighborhood watch groups.
Seven new ones have formed in 2012.
Neighborhood watches have also helped several other crimes, because the perpetrators of home burglaries are often tied to other break-ins.
"Usually when we are able to make an arrest in residential burglaries we are able to clear more than one case," Commander Alexander explained.
The police are continuously reaching out to both neighborhoods and apartment complexes about starting neighborhood watches.
"Not only is the police department going to be doing everything we can to identify the criminal element, also we have got thousands of people on our team in the community that has joined with us to share information," Commander Alexander said. "I think it sends a very important message that the criminal has less of a chance of being successful in an area where an organized group of people has stepped up and joined with us."
Neighborhood watches can form by contacting the precinct for the area their homes are in.
Metro police has a registration process to complete for the group to be recognized by the department.
In Johnson's neighborhood the watch has helped residents feel safer in their homes.
"At first when we first started doing it people were looking at us like, ‘What are you doing here?' Now its smiles and waves," he said. "Everybody seems to be aware of what's going on and they feel good about living here."
The neighborhood watch for Oak Highlands/Deer Valley is also connected to several other nearby watch groups.
The groups share information about suspicious activity or other incidents in an effort to fight the spread of crime from one neighborhood to another.
