Neighborhood Fights Crime with Technology

ATLANTA - Crime is an all-too-often reality for some neighborhoods battling to stay safe and peaceful.

But at least one group of residents is fighting to take their neighborhood back and they're using mode technology to do it.

Life keeps us busy. Unfortunately, we live in age where we don't always know our neighbors. And sadder, is that often crime happens to our neighbors, yet it goes unnoticed. But with the change in times, comes a change in technology that might bridge the gap and make our surroundings safer.

Jeff Doster lives in the Sims Estates neighborhood. He's been there seven years. But in that time his home has been burglarized five times. In fact, he says he's had two computers and 4 TV's stolen.

"It got so bad where I decided I wasn't going to buy a television, but a friend of mine lent me a 13 inch and I'd unplug it and hide it in the oven, just in case, just in case," said Jeff Doster, VP of Sims Estates Neighborhood Association

But a rise in crime is not just relegated to certain neighborhoods. Unfortunately, because of economic conditions it's happening everywhere. But when it happens, residents in a neighborhood often don't know until well after the crime has occurred.

"You could have a neighborhood of 500-1000 people and a crime takes place and yet no one knows anything except for the witness, the criminal and the police," said Nathan Black of Village Defense.

That's why a couple of Georgia Tech grads have come up with part of a solution, called Village Defense. It's a system that instantly alerts residents when a crime, or suspicious activity is happening. After a witness calls police, they also call the Village Defense 24-hour hotline. A blast of the message goes out to all neighbors on the system in the form of a home phone, text or email message - creating a village-like atmosphere. Since implementing the system, Sims Estates residents have seen an 83 percent reduction in burglaries and 73 percent reduction in crime overall. And local police are on board in support of the technology.

"As much as police would like to be everywhere all the time, we can't," said Maj. Valerie Dalton of the Aatlanta Police Department.

But residents say village defense isn't just warding off crime, it's pulling the neighborhood together. Laura Robin's house has been burglarized since the neighborhood signed up to receive the alerts, but she says this time was much different.

"All of my neighbors came to see about me," said Laura Robin.

There is a monthly subscription fee for the service that ranges from $3 - $5 a month but at least one neighborhood says what it has given them in retu is priceless.

"It has been well worth it and I sleep better at night. And no TV's in the oven," said Doster

Police say, the village defense, although helpful technology, shouldn't take the place of securing your home properly. Lock all windows and doors and always light dark area surrounding your home.