THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501160071
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Criminals scouting targets in Shea Terrace should smile. Chances are, their pictures are being taken.
Residents have given new meaning to the word ``watch'' in Crime Watch by setting up at least four video cameras, complete with recorders, to monitor the neighborhood. The cameras are moved every so often to make sure no one catches on to the locations.
The effort already has led to the arrest of an 18-year-old suspected in burglaries in Shea Terrace and adjoining neighborhoods.
``It was a community effort,'' said Dutch Andrews, who heads the local civic league.
Residents already had a Neighborhood Watch program, he said. But a rash of burglaries that began about six months ago made them realize that they could not be at their windows keeping tabs on what was happening 24 hours a day.
That's where the video cameras came in.
The idea came from a resident whose property had been burglarized several times, Andrews said. The man went to a civic league meeting earlier this month and asked that a reward be offered for the capture of the burglar. Members agreed to a $100 bounty.
Then the man, who asked that his name not be published, mentioned that he was videotaping the area around his home. The idea captured people's imaginations.
Andrews said folks set cameras up in their homes overlooking key corners and routes into and out of the neighborhood. They attached the cameras to videocassette recorders and hit the record buttons.
Tapes were saved for three days before being reused - plenty of time for any burglary reports to come in. If they did, residents would scan the videotapes for evidence.
Andrews was at a hardware store on Monday when a neighbor asked whether he had heard about the chase near his home.
It turned out a resident had spotted someone in a neighbor's back yard and shouted at the stranger. The man fled, pausing only long enough to turn and shout obscenities.
What the man didn't know was that a video camera had taped him as he looked around behind people's homes.
``The guy was obviously casing the place the way he was checking back windows and back doors,'' Andrews said.
With videotape in hand, residents began looking for links to past burglaries. One resident took the tape to a church on Wednesday to show it to someone who had seen a suspicious person in the area.
The lead didn't pan out. But as chance would have it, as the resident was leaving the church, the suspect on the videotape rode by on a bike. The resident, who was carrying a still camera, snapped some pictures.
He took the film to a one-hour photo shop, had extra copies made of the suspect's picture and passed them around the neighborhood. He also gave them to police.
``He moved,'' Andrews said of the quick-thinking resident. ``He did an excellent job of detective work.''
The suspect was spotted later in the day by a resident who called police. An hour later, officers made an arrest.
Residents said the man has since been identified as a suspect in other burglaries.
Andrews said he's sold on the video concept. ``It's very effective,'' he said. So much so that he's now looking at the possibility of purchasing surveillance cameras to be used in the area.
Residents support the idea.
``We just want to get the word out to these criminals about what we're doing so they'll realize that this is not a neighborhood they want to be coming into,'' said the resident who launched the video watch. ``We'll always be watching.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Portsmouth resident Dutch Andrews and other Shea Terrace residents
set up video cameras, complete with recorders, to monitor the
neighborhood after a rash of burglaries that began about six months
ago. The effort has led to one arrest.
Color staff map
Area shown: Shea Terrace
by CNB