THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250539
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 307 lines
Reggie Allen isn't surprised to hear that the number of burglaries is going down in his Portsmouth neighborhood, even as burglaries seem to be on the rise in much of Hampton Roads.
Allen and his neighbors in Brighton and Prentis Park patrol their streets daily, reporting suspicious activity to police. Since 1991, they've been patrolling about 16 hours a day, often until 1 or 2 a.m.
They don't get paid, but they do get a safer neighborhood. Brighton and Prentis Park, working-class areas, were once plagued by crime.
``The citizens say it's working, so that's good enough for me,'' Allen said.
But in the same time that burglaries have dropped 25 percent in Brighton and Prentis Park, burglaries in Hampton Roads have gone up 9 percent.
For the first six months of this year, there were more burglaries in all Hampton Roads cities than for the same period last year, according to a Virginian-Pilot computer analysis of police incident reports.
The increases were highest in Virginia Beach (23 percent) and Norfolk (9 percent). The increases were slight in Chesapeake and Suffolk (2 percent each) and in Portsmouth (1 percent).
Burglary investigators attribute the increase to a changing social fabric and, in large part, to juveniles.
According to FBI data, half ofthe suspects arrested for burglaries in Hampton Roads in 1994 were 17 or younger. Today, police say they see younger burglars and more of them. And they say that once these youths start committing burglaries, they don't stop until they are caught.
``Once a burglar gets going, they keep hitting the same neighborhood,'' said Chesapeake Det. R.H. Lunsford.
``This one (burglar) hit 80 homes in one small geographic area,'' Lunsford said as he pulled a file from a stack on his desk. The stack stood six inches high with the files of repeat burglars, most of whom got started in their teens.
Police say catching burglars is no easy task. In most cases, there are no witnesses. The thief gets in and out fast, leaving behind little evidence. Arrests are made in 25 percent of all burglaries in Hampton Roads. That's on par with the rest of the state and almost two times better than the national average.
Police say residents are the key to getting more burglars off the streets.
Allen agrees. He and his neighbors watch out for each other now. People call the police when they see something strange. They never used to do that, Allen says.
People feel safer, Allen says, and more people are out on their porches or walking the streets.
``Citizens can help by being an extra sets of eyes and ears,'' Lunsford said.
Some advice from the experts to prevent burglaries:
Look for strangers roaming the neighborhood.
Look for teens who should be in school.
Call the police when something looks suspicious.
Monitor the things that your children bring in and out of the home.
Write down serial numbers of your possessions. Without them, police can't identify your property when it is found.
Do not assume that your neighborhood is immune.
``Burglars hit all sorts of neighborhoods,'' said Cpl. Harry Twiford of the Norfolk Police Department.
The Pilot's analysis found that Norfolk's Diggs Town, a public housing community, and Campostella, a working-class neighborhood, have burglary rates as low as 3 per 1,000 residents, putting them on par with wealthier areas like Lochhaven and Meadowbrook. Among South Hampton Roads cities, Norfolk and Portsmouth have the highest burglary rates.
In Virginia Beach, where the burglary rate is still the lowest in the area, Cape Story, Bay Colony and North Virginia Beach neighborhoods have some of the city's highest burglary rates - 9 per 1,000 residents. Just below those neighborhoods are the less-affluent Lake Edward, Newsome Farm and Magic Hollow neighborhoods.
Portsmouth's Cavalier Manor, a middle-class neighborhood known for its strong neighborhood watch program, boasts that city's lowest burglary rate: less than 3 per 1,000 residents.
Jeffry Wilson, a public housing community, also has relatively few burglaries. The middle-class neighborhoods of Highlands, Park Manor and Simonsdale - with rates around 4 per 1,000 residents - rank just below Jeffry Wilson.
Most burglars like to work close to home, police say, where they know the landscape and can observe people's routines. They are more interested in how easy a house is to get into and whether there is anybody home than with how rich the neighborhood is.
Burglars tend to work during the day when people are not home. They knock on doors and windows to make sure no one is home. They break windows or kick in doors. Many times, they walk in through unlocked doors or crawl in through open windows.
``You can never make yourself 100 percent bulletproof, but you can reduce your odds,'' said Sgt. Skip Pierce of Chesapeake. ``You need to take some responsibility for your own safety.''
Like the residents of the Brighton/Prentis Park area, residents of Norfolk's Campostella neighborhoods are taking responsibility for their own safety. They, too, are seeing results.
The Rev. Theodore Watson, president of Campostella's civic league, says his neighbors work to keep their yards and community clean. They watch out for their neighbors, and they call police when something looks strange.
They are beginning to see a difference. In the first six months of this year, there were 60 percent fewer burglaries than during the same period last year. People feel better about where they live, and neighbors are drawing together, Watson says.
``We need to get more people working to solve the problem,'' Watson said. ``It's a hard process, but we're not going to give up. We've going to keep fighting for it.''
Reggie Allen isn't surprised to hear that the number of burglaries is going down in his Portsmouth neighborhood, even as burglaries seem to be on the rise in much of Hampton Roads.
Allen and his neighbors in Brighton and Prentis Park patrol their streets daily, reporting suspicious activity to police. Since 1991, they've been patrolling about 16 hours a day, often until 1 or 2 a.m.
They don't get paid, but they do get a safer neighborhood. Brighton and Prentis Park, working-class areas, were once plagued by crime.
``The citizens say it's working, so that's good enough for me,'' Allen said.
But in the same time that burglaries have dropped 25 percent in Brighton and Prentis Park, burglaries in Hampton Roads have gone up 9 percent.
For the first six months of this year, there were more burglaries in all Hampton Roads cities than for the same period last year, according to a Virginian-Pilot computer analysis of police incident reports.
The increases were highest in Virginia Beach (23 percent) and Norfolk (9 percent). The increases were slight in Chesapeake and Suffolk (2 percent each) and in Portsmouth (1 percent).
Burglary investigators attribute the increase to a changing social fabric and, in large part, to juveniles.
According to FBI data, half ofthe suspects arrested for burglaries in Hampton Roads in 1994 were 17 or younger. Today, police say they see younger burglars and more of them. And they say that once these youths start committing burglaries, they don't stop until they are caught.
``Once a burglar gets going, they keep hitting the same neighborhood,'' said Chesapeake Det. R.H. Lunsford.
``This one (burglar) hit 80 homes in one small geographic area,'' Lunsford said as he pulled a file from a stack on his desk. The stack stood six inches high with the files of repeat burglars, most of whom got started in their teens.
Police say catching burglars is no easy task. In most cases, there are no witnesses. The thief gets in and out fast, leaving behind little evidence. Arrests are made in 25 percent of all burglaries in Hampton Roads. That's on par with the rest of the state and almost two times better than the national average.
Police say residents are the key to getting more burglars off the streets.
Allen agrees. He and his neighbors watch out for each other now. People call the police when they see something strange. They never used to do that, Allen says.
People feel safer, Allen says, and more people are out on their porches or walking the streets.
``Citizens can help by being an extra set of eyes and ears,'' Lunsford said.
Some advice from the experts to prevent burglaries:
Look for strangers roaming the neighborhood.
Look for teens who should be in school.
Call the police when something looks suspicious.
Monitor the things that your children bring in and out of the home.
Write down serial numbers of your possessions. Without them, police can't identify your property when it is found.
Do not assume that your neighborhood is immune.
``Burglars hit all sorts of neighborhoods,'' said Cpl. Harry Twiford of the Norfolk Police Department.
The Pilot's analysis found that Norfolk's Diggs Town, a public housing community, and Campostella, a working-class neighborhood, have burglary rates as low as 3 per 1,000 residents, putting them on par with wealthier areas like Lochhaven and Meadowbrook. Among South Hampton Roads cities, Norfolk and Portsmouth have the highest burglary rates.
In Virginia Beach, where the burglary rate is still the lowest in the area, Cape Story, Bay Colony and North Virginia Beach neighborhoods have some of the city's highest burglary rates - 9 per 1,000 residents. Just below those neighborhoods are the less-affluent Lake Edward, Newsome Farm and Magic Hollow neighborhoods.
Portsmouth's Cavalier Manor, a middle-class neighborhood known for its strong neighborhood watch program, boasts that city's lowest burglary rate: less than 3 per 1,000 residents.
Jeffry Wilson, a public housing community, also has relatively few burglaries. The middle-class neighborhoods of Highlands, Park Manor and Simonsdale - with rates around 4 per 1,000 residents - rank just below Jeffry Wilson.
Most burglars like to work close to home, police say, where they know the landscape and can observe people's routines. They are more interested in how easy a house is to get into and whether there is anybody home than with how rich the neighborhood is.
Burglars tend to work during the day when people are not home. They knock on doors and windows to make sure no one is home. They break windows or kick in doors. Many times, they walk in through unlocked doors or crawl in through open windows.
``You can never make yourself 100 percent bulletproof, but you can reduce your odds,'' said Sgt. Skip Pierce of Chesapeake. ``You need to take some responsibility for your own safety.''
Like the residents of the Brighton/Prentis Park area, residents of Norfolk's Campostella neighborhoods are taking responsibility for their own safety. They, too, are seeing results.
The Rev. Theodore Watson, president of Campostella's civic league, says his neighbors work to keep their yards and community clean. They watch out for their neighbors, and they call police when something looks strange.
They are beginning to see a difference. In the first six months of this year, there were 60 percent fewer burglaries than during the same period last year. People feel better about where they live, and neighbors are drawing together, Watson says.
``We need to get more people working to solve the problem,'' Watson said. ``It's a hard process, but we're not going to give up. We've going to keep fighting for it.''
Reggie Allen isn't surprised to hear that the number of burglaries is going down in his Portsmouth neighborhood, even as burglaries seem to be on the rise in much of Hampton Roads.
Allen and his neighbors in Brighton and Prentis Park patrol their streets daily, reporting suspicious activity to police. Since 1991, they've been patrolling about 16 hours a day, often until 1 or 2 a.m.
They don't get paid, but they do get a safer neighborhood. Brighton and Prentis Park, working-class areas, were once plagued by crime.
``The citizens say it's working, so that's good enough for me,'' Allen said.
But in the same time that burglaries have dropped 25 percent in Brighton and Prentis Park, burglaries in Hampton Roads have gone up 9 percent.
For the first six months of this year, there were more burglaries in all Hampton Roads cities than for the same period last year, according to a Virginian-Pilot computer analysis of police incident reports.
The increases were highest in Virginia Beach (23 percent) and Norfolk (9 percent). The increases were slight in Chesapeake and Suffolk (2 percent each) and in Portsmouth (1 percent).
Burglary investigators attribute the increase to a changing social fabric and, in large part, to juveniles.
According to FBI data, half of the suspects arrested for burglaries in Hampton Roads in 1994 were 17 or younger. Today, police say they see younger burglars and more of them. And they say that once these youths start committing burglaries, they don't stop until they are caught.
``Once a burglar gets going, they keep hitting the same neighborhood,'' said Chesapeake Det. R.H. Lunsford.
``This one (burglar) hit 80 homes in one small geographic area,'' Lunsford said as he pulled a file from a stack on his desk. The stack stood six inches high with the files of repeat burglars, most of whom got started in their teens.
Police say catching burglars is no easy task. In most cases, there are no witnesses. The thief gets in and out fast, leaving behind little evidence. Arrests are made in 25 percent of all burglaries in Hampton Roads. That's on par with the rest of the state and almost two times better than the national average.
Police say residents are the key to getting more burglars off the streets.
Allen agrees. He and his neighbors watch out for each other now. People call the police when they see something strange. They never used to do that, Allen says.
People feel safer, Allen says, and more people are out on their porches or walking the streets.
``Citizens can help by being an extra sets of eyes and ears,'' Lunsford said.
Some advice from the experts to prevent burglaries:
Look for strangers roaming the neighborhood.
Look for teens who should be in school.
Call the police when something looks suspicious.
Monitor the things that your children bring in and out of the home.
Write down serial numbers of your possessions. Without them, police can't identify your property when it is found.
Do not assume that your neighborhood is immune.
``Burglars hit all sorts of neighborhoods,'' said Cpl. Harry Twiford of the Norfolk Police Department.
The Pilot's analysis found that Norfolk's Diggs Town, a public housing community, and Campostella, a working-class neighborhood, have burglary rates as low as 3 per 1,000 residents, putting them on par with wealthier areas like Lochhaven and Meadowbrook. Among South Hampton Roads cities, Norfolk and Portsmouth have the highest burglary rates.
In Virginia Beach, where the burglary rate is still the lowest in the area, Cape Story, Bay Colony and North Virginia Beach neighborhoods have some of the city's highest burglary rates - 9 per 1,000 residents. Just below those neighborhoods are the less-affluent Lake Edward, Newsome Farm and Magic Hollow neighborhoods.
Portsmouth's Cavalier Manor, a middle-class neighborhood known for its strong neighborhood watch program, boasts that city's lowest burglary rate: less than 3 per 1,000 residents.
Jeffry Wilson, a public housing community, also has relatively few burglaries. The middle-class neighborhoods of Highlands, Park Manor and Simonsdale - with rates around 4 per 1,000 residents - rank just below Jeffry Wilson.
Most burglars like to work close to home, police say, where they know the landscape and can observe people's routines. They are more interested in how easy a house is to get into and whether there is anybody home than with how rich the neighborhood is.
Burglars tend to work during the day when people are not home. They knock on doors and windows to make sure no one is home. They break windows or kick in doors. Many times, they walk in through unlocked doors or crawl in through open windows.
``You can never make yourself 100 percent bulletproof, but you can reduce your odds,'' said Sgt. Skip Pierce of Chesapeake. ``You need to take some responsibility for your own safety.''
Like the residents of the Brighton/Prentis Park area, residents of Norfolk's Campostella neighborhoods are taking responsibility for their own safety. They, too, are seeing results.
The Rev. Theodore Watson, president of Campostella's civic league, says his neighbors work to keep their yards and community clean. They watch out for their neighbors, and they call police when something looks strange.
They are beginning to see a difference. In the first six months of this year, there were 60 percent fewer burglaries than during the same period last year. People feel better about where they live, and neighbors are drawing together, Watson says.
``We need to get more people working to solve the problem,'' Watson said. ``It's a hard process, but we're not going to give up. We've going to keep fighting for it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
VP
TEN MOST BURGLED NEIGHBORHOODS
SOURCE: The Virginian-Pilot analysis of Norfolk, Portsmouth and
Virginia Beach police incident reports, and the Suffolk and
Chesapeake police departments
A SAFER HOME
How to make your house a tougher target for burglars:
SOURCE: Hampton Roads police departments
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: CRIME HAMPTON ROADS STATISTICS
TRENDS by CNB