How To Prevent Community Crime

Neighbor Day is an annual celebration
that encourages "good neighboring"

"Getting to know your neighbors is still the best way to help prevent neighborhood crime," said Pablo Campos, the regional director of our management team. "If you know your neighbors, you know when they are on vacation or not living in the unit. So you can be alert to cars pulling into the driveway or other suspicious activity."

As a good neighbor, here's what you can do to help prevent crime in the Stonebridge community.

1. If you observe an attempted car or residence break-in call 9-1-1. It is very important that you call the police, so they can respond immediately and so they can hear first-hand about a reported incident.

2. After you have alerted the police to any crime-in-progress, the next step is to call Jessica Coleman, our community association manager at 407-996-5530 so that she can send out a mass email and phone alert to all residents. This can be done even after hours through the office number, pressing #4 to report an emergency. You will very quickly receive a call-back from one of the on-call management team members (Caesar, Chris or Jessica) and the alert will be sent to residents ASAP -- alerting everyone to be aware of a suspicious incident or crime.

3. Orlando PD shares a Twitter.com live stream of detailed police calls for our 32835 zip code area. So you can use your computer to see and share police information. You can subscribe to the link at: http://twitter.com/orlpol32835.

4. Orlando PD also shares crime reports at CrimeReports.com, where you can enter an address to pull up a local map, and set time and range parameters to see a display of seven types of crimes reported in the greater MetroWest area, and zero-in on detailed information about crime within a 2-mile radius of Stonebridge Commons.

5. We are considered a "low-crime" community by police and all three security companies that gave presentations April 10th to the Stonebridge Association Board.

6. Orlando PD calls our Stonebridge Commons community "very safe" with only 2 active investigations linked to reported crimes within the last 18 months within our 70-acre community of 662 residential units.

All other known crimes, according to police patrol officers were inside jobs, solved within a short time (ie a boyfriend took a car from his girlfriend, a visiting teen friend stole from a resident and then stole from some people around the pool, as well as a string of thefts from 9 cars reported one day six months ago that turned out to be a resident's son.)

Note: There was mention by a resident that someone was "jiggling" the handle of a neighbor's door, trying to get in or checking to see if the door was locked. However the incident was not reported to police, and the office was not immediately made aware of the incident, so no follow-up was possible.

7. The Stonebridge Commons Association Board met with security companies at 3:30 pm, April 10th to discuss spending $45,000 or less per year to have a security guard at the front gate during peak traffic times, when people "tailgate" behind residents through the gate, although no associated-crimes have been reported. Security at the Clubhouse, pool area and "dark areas" between the wall and the back/sides of units was also discussed. However, within this price range for security, we would only be able to have one security officer on-site for 8 hours per day for gate duty and/or on patrol. The money is not in the budget, and could amount to an additional $8 per month per unit in association fees, although we currently have additional money in a budget reserve fund.

Note: All three security companies said an "armed" patrol would be totally inappropriate at Stonebridge. Quote -- "An armed officer at the gate and on patrol sends the wrong message. It sends a negative message and escalates the perceived need for more guns in the community. People wonder, 'Why is there an armed guard? This must be a bad neighborhood. Maybe we need a gun.'"

Crime prevention and a proposal to hire a security company will be discussed and voted on at a Stonebridge Board Meeting set for 6 pm Monday, April 15th at the Clubhouse.

It's crazy how few of us know our neighbors: their names, their phone numbers, what they're about. The explosion of online "social" networking has only made it easier to avoid face-to-face contact in the real world. Think of what you might be missing: Collaborators, friends, emergency contacts, sugar? "If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods," said Harvey Milk. ... So this Neighbor Day, summon the courage to ask the guy in unit 101 what his name is .. again, and check out some community events.

Click links for more details about NeighborDay and how to create a Collaborating Neighborhood.