Neighbors Take Bite Out of Crime

Neighbors are looking out for neighbors and police say it's making a major difference.

"We have seen a significant reduction in crime in those areas," explained Major Steve Parrish.

One neighborhood watch team caught a criminal in the act just last week and police say many times your neighbors know more of what to look out for than they do.

"Neighbors know what cars need to be parked where and when we drive through we don't necessarily know that so that's a great aspect of the neighborhood watch program," said Parrish.

"It's our homes and we've got to look out for own best interest, our houses, kids and property," expressed Boyd Clark.

Boyd Clark helped start the neighborhood watch team in the Garden District and he said it's like having hundreds of people watching out for you, which is always a plus especially around the holidays.

"We know a lot of people are out of town and so do the criminals so we try to step up our patrol during those times," said Clark.

In addition to the human eye, this neighborhood watch team is also looking out by using technology

"If something happens somebody puts it on the Facebook page and within a couple of minutes a couple of hundred people have seen it," explained Clark.

Police said this type of open communication plays a major in helping them keep up with the neighborhood watch teams and ultimately leads to catching more criminals.

Police said they have made some arrests in the recent break-ins and they expect to make even more by Monday; they attribute many of their tips to neighborhood watch teams.