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Old Town watches out for one another
Published 8:23pm Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Updated 5:56pm Monday, August 2, 2010SELMA — People in Old Town are scared.
So scared they don’t want to talk about the recent increase in home burglaries for fear of retribution.
“It is a scary thing we have going on right now,” said Dr. Monica Newton, Ward 3 councilwoman. “We have never had all of this. We have had people take stuff from the outside of houses, but never broken down doors.”
“This is frightening,” said Jacque Johnson, president of the neighborhood watch in Old Town. “I know some people who are having trouble sleeping at night because they are worried about what is going on in the street.”
One resident that asked not to be identified said she had become more aware of what is going on outside of their home.
“When I leave the house now, even it is to walk down the street, I make sure the alarm is on, the doors and my gates are locked,” said the person. “I am more aware of the cars that are coming down my street and I make sure my neighbors know where I am going so they can be on the lookout.”
It this kind of watchful behavior that has begun to put a crimp in at least one suspect’s style.
On Tuesday night, as Selma Police Lt. David Evans rode down Union Street, a resident flagged him down. The resident told Evans he saw two suspicious men in the area.
The resident said the two men looked like they were looking in cars.
Evans said he got on the radio and called for other units to come to the 600 block of Union Street to search the area.
“We were searching the area when the gentleman who had flagged me down directed us to an area between two houses,” Evans said.
Police Sgt. Tori Neely walked up between the houses and found a suspect crouched down next to one of the houses in the bushes.
When the homeowner of the house closest to the suspect arrived, she told authorities someone had burglarized her house a couple of weeks prior.
“Apparently he did not get in the house this time, but it’s pretty evident what he had in mind,” Evans said.
Authorities couldn’t charge the suspect on what they thought he might do, but a routine check by Neely turned up three outstanding warrants with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department for possession of controlled substances.
“Hopefully, if he is one of the people committing burglaries, we will be able to use the information from the arrest to tie into the others.”
Newton, Dr. Wylie Newton and Johnson met with Mayor George Evans and Police Chief William Riley to discuss a new strategy for policing Old Town.
“The police department already had night shifts on patrol,” said Newton. “But we noticed that a majority of the break-ins were occurring when people were at work, between the hours of 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. We needed something different.”
Johnson said police involvement had been good since residents noticed a trend beginning.
“This has been going on more in July,” said Johnson. “And it started just around the time of the shootings, which is worse, but since then we have seen good response from the police. Since we have been working with them the police have been very nice and supportive.”
Johnson said Old Town has a tough neighborhood watch, and Tuesday night, it paid off.
“We look out for each other,” said Johnson. “Police were able to catch a suspect because one of our new neighborhood watch members saw two men who looked suspicious and called the police.”
Evans praised the neighborhood watch program.
“This is a good example of our community involvement and a Neighborhood Watch program works,” he said.
Leesha Faulkner contributed to this story.
Jesse Elton.. Congrats you are part of the problem… Thanks for outing yourself as a bigot.
Excellent article,it shows community involvement works.Stay active and keep up the good work.