DATE: Saturday, October 25, 1997            TAG: 9710250308

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   46 lines

BEDEVILED BY BURGLARIES, NEIGHBORHOOD FIGHTS BACK

The first thing Gaile Bishop noticed that Sunday morning was that she felt cold.

It was the cool air rushing through a wide-open window.

Then, she saw her husband's billfold on the floor and other items out of place.

Bishop's home is one of five in the South Loxley Place and Loxley Place neighborhood area that were burglarized while victims slept at night between Oct. 9 and 14.

``I was like, `How dare you,' '' said Bishop, who happens to be president of the South/Loxley Place Neighborhood Watch. ``It's like, `You don't have a right to come in here and take things that my husband and I have worked for.' ''

Bishop also was thinking about how this burglar was going to find out that her neighborhood is not an easy pick.

Since then, she and other neighbors have doubled the frequency of their patrols and are working hard with community police officers and detectives to solve the burglaries.

Bishop said she may have foiled one burglary in progress Friday morning, when she made a stop on her patrol.

She heard a noise near a home and later learned that someone had attempted a break-in.

The other five homes were broken into between late evening to early morning, according to Detective Amber Whittaker, police spokeswoman.

Apparently, the victims have slept through the burglaries, and no one has been injured, Whittaker said.

``Right now, we don't want to create a panic,'' Whittaker said. ``But we do want to create an awareness.''

Police are asking residents to be on the watch for suspicious activity and to keep their outdoor lights on. MEMO: Residents who would like safety tips should call the Crime

Prevention office at 558-2824.

TO HELP POLICE

Anyone with information on the burglaries should call Portsmouth Crime

Line at 488-7777. KEYWORDS: BURGLARY

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