Just wanted to fill everyone in on the Commander's Forum last night. Handouts were available on burglary prevention, code enforcement, maps of Baker 1 and 2 which are areas within Central West Command, and area crime statistics for 1/08-12/08. In the crime stats sheet, Allandale was listed as having 35 burglary of residence, 35 burglary of non-residence, 132 burglary of vehicle, 61 crimes of mischief, and 13 instances of graffiti.
Central West recent initiatives have included targeting day time curfew to keep kids at school and away from places like Highland Mall where thefts have occurred, Operation Serenity (to keep noise down throughout Central West Command), and Operation Peter Piper (to clean up Guadalupe). There has also been a recent
initiative targeting burglary from vehicles. Theft from vehicles is a crime of opportunity - valuables are often left in plain sight so people decide to steal them. One of the lieutenants told the story of a UT student who had her laptop stolen the week before and was still sited for leaving another valuable on the front seat of her car. Hide all valuables! The police department has started a new program in which they send e-mails asking residents to help find suspects for certain crimes in our area. The e-mails also include prevention methods. For more info on this or to join the Central West Yahoo group go to centralwestdr@yahoogroups.com.
Please give me a call or send me an e-mail if you want to talk in more detail about any of this information or if you are interested in becoming a block captain. I'll be doing at least 1 or 2 trainings in January and can work around individual schedules. Thanks, Laura DiCarlo Allandale Neighborhood Watch contact



