Neighborhood crime happens every where and at all times of the day. Criminals cruise up and down streets looking for easy targets. But in this day and age neighborhoods are going high-tech and in the process making their community a whole lot safer.
Car break-ins, residential burglaries, standoffs, even gunfire are all crimes that can put any neighborhood on edge. Strapped by budget constraints police can only do so much which is one reason why neighborhoods are stepping up and taking action.
One example is the historical Argenta district in North Little Rock. Driving down any street in the neighborhood you are being watched.
Scott Miller has lived in Argenta for about seven years and has seen his share of crime. But it wasn't until a few years ago that he decided to do something about it. "If you're truly interested in building a community and building a neighborhood with two person families, two people working, outside activities, you have to find new ways to connect these days."
So Miller created the
Argenta News website where he posts anything and everything, including crime. His website is just the launching pad. "What we do is automatically link them so that everything that is put up on Argenta News is then automatically sent to
Facebook and to
Twitter," Miller says.
More and more neighborhood watch groups are utilizing these on-line desktop tools but the Argenta district is taking it a step further.
Nearly 100 wireless transmitters are set up throughout the neighborhood. So if someone is out on a walk and witnesses a crime or sees something unusual, they can send out an alert in a flash via email or Twitter.
Miller says being connected is crucial for any neighborhood attempting to reduce or prevent crime from happening. "You have a much more socially aware neighborhood looking our for each other which the police will tell you that's the most important thing is know your neighbor and know what's going on," Miller said.
And some communities are going to the extreme. In Atlanta a neighborhood pooled their own money to hire an off-duty police officer to roam their streets in an un-marked car.
So if you're fed up with crime in your neighborhood do something about it. Get to know your neighbor, form a neighborhood watch group and then start sending each other local crime alerts via email, Facebook even Twitter.
