Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier
Neighborhood Watch members, from front to back and left to right, include Terrance and Allegra Tringali, Pat Densmore, Theresa Tringali, Larida Stacy, Carol Murray, Denny Densmore and Don Stacy. There are 65 to 80 Neighborhood Watch signs throughout Los Altos, each representing a neighborhood meeting. To have a sign put up in a neighborhood, residents must first hold a meeting at which Noreen Sorg, community services officer with the Los Altos Police Department, presents information on neighborhood crime prevention.
Town Crier Staff Writer
Alert neighbors play role in low crime throughout city, Los Altos police say
When folks ask how safe is Los Altos, the city's top cop loves to tell this story. Los Altos Police Chief Lucy Carlton rubs her hands together. Her eyes twinkle.
She remembers when she heard about Federal funding for block grants to local law enforcement agencies for crime prevention.
Carlton scanned the list showing the grants awarded to other Santa Clara County cities.
"Los Gatos gets money. So where's Los Altos?" Carlton asked. She picked up the phone.
"How come my name's not on the list?" she asked.
"Because your crime index didn't qualify."
"Well, don't we get any rewards for being safe? Some money for not being on the crime index?" she asked.
Los Altos has received a few "tiny" block grants, she said.
So when people ask about Los Altos and safety, "There's an indicator," Carlton said. "In this county, this city did not make the crime index."
But that doesn't mean nothing happens in Los Altos.
"I don't want this community to fall into a false sense of innocence," Carlton said. "There are robberies, burglaries, known sex offenders.
"I want people to feel good about living in a safe community. But part of the community feeling is that people keep themselves safe and report to us what they see."
One way this works is through Megan's Law, the CD-ROM available at the police department with information on registered sex offenders.
The seven in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills is not very many. Los Gatos has 37, Cupertino has 32 and Saratoga has 11. But still, this works as a tool for helping residents keep their city safe.
All the citizens "are the eyes and ears for us," Carlton said.
What they are seeing and hearing is a rise in vandalism, grand theft and petty theft, all of which have "increased significantly," according to the 1996-97 Annual Performance Review, City of Los Altos.
A look at the trend lines on graphs charting local crime statistics for 1990-1996, shows a pretty flat line, "for which we are grateful," Carlton said, of Part I crime: homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, assault, theft and arson.
There have been four reported robberies so far in 1998, Carlton said.
The majority of assaults in Los Altos are from domestic violence, she said.
And Los Altos hasn't had a murder in four years. In that case, a woman disappeared from the Four Seasons Motel. She has never been found, and police don't think she is alive.
It's the Part II crimes, vandalism, drug violations, sex offenses, family offenses, driving under the influence, simple assault, disturbing the peace and municipal ordinance violations, which have increased in Los Altos at an annual rate of 6.3 percent since 1990, according to the city report.
Vandalism, alone, increased by 78 percent, according to the city report.
"The most significant up-trend," Carlton, said, has been in petty theft. "People leave their vehicles unlocked." Petty theft is a loss of under $400.
Education and crime prevention awareness programs "help residents and neighborhoods in reducing and preventing crime," according to the city report.
A key player is this area is Noreen Sorg, a community services officer with the Los Altos Police Department, whose job is crime prevention.
She may be best known for her work helping residents organize Neighborhood Watch groups.
Currently there are 65 to 80 Neighborhood Watch signs "all over town," Sorg said. And each sign represents a neighborhood meeting.
To have a sign put up in the neighborhood, residents must first hold a meeting at which Sorg presents information on neighborhood crime prevention.
The newest sign in town went up just last week on the corner of San Juan Court and Jordan Avenue, in north Los Altos.
"We all know each other," said neighbor Pat Densmore, who organized the meeting for her area. "But I thought it'd be good to have it (Neighborhood Watch) on our street. Maybe we'd better do something."
Last fall there had been five house break-ins nearby on West Portola Avenue and Chester Circle. But Densmore said her gathering was not in reaction to this, but was something she had been thinking about doing for awhile.
And she's glad she did.
Sorg "was full of information, a wonderful speaker," Densmore said.
"Half of our burglaries are without force," Sorg said. "People leave their doors unlocked." She tells neighbors about the importance of having a 1-inch deadbolt lock with a strike plate with four 2-inch screws.
"If someone decides to kick in a door, it's the 1-inch deadbolt with the strike plate that really gives the added protection for security," Sorg said.
She also advises people to lock their windows. "Open windows are a real easy way to get in a house. Burglary is a daytime crime," she said.
Denny Densmore said he locks his windows and doors when he runs errands. "You betcha," he said.
The Densmore's neighbors now are full of suggestions for keeping themselves and their neighborhood safe, following Sorg's meeting.
Lock your gate.
Wrap up your jewelry and put it in the freezer. When someone breaks in, "they go straight for the bedroom and jewelry box," Densmore said.
Pick up the mail and newspapers when a neighbor is gone.
Watch for strange cars. If someone isn't home, watch who comes and goes. "We've always done that," said Larida Stacy, a neighbor of Densmore.
Invite a neighbor to use your driveway when you're gone on vacation so it looks like someone is home.
"Sometimes I don't want to answer the door," said neighbor, Theresa Tringali. "But now I always will so the person at the door knows someone is home."
All agree that their neighborhood is safe. In fact, they think it is "safer than most," said Don Stacy.
But many also have stories of incidents nearby. One neighbor, maybe 15 years ago, had a stereo stolen from his car, Stacy said.
Larida Stacy had out-going mail stolen from her box. The thief then tried to forge one of Stacy's checks for $450, which she had written for $11.
The Tringalis had a bike stolen when fences were down during construction.
So things happen.
But "people help people," Denny Densmore said.
After Sorg's meeting, these folks are forewarned with even more ways for keeping themselves and their neighborhood safe.
There's no question. Los Altos is a safe place. But Carlton and Sorg both worry that might lull people into not taking precautions - like locking their doors, their windows, their cars - because it is safe.
"We get a lot of people who spend a lot of money on their houses and don't think they have to be careful," Sorg said. "But everyone needs to be careful."
Carlton points out, "An unlocked door creates an opportunity. Property crimes are crimes of opportunity."
Sorg is willing to come to people's homes and do "security surveys. There's no charge, and I come at their convenience. I just make recommendations. I don't come back and make sure they've done it," she said.
Of the houses broken into last fall in the Portola Avenue area, all had gates that were unlocked, Sorg said. "So Bob the burglar goes into the back yard and looks for an easy entry. The gate - that's a vulnerable spot."
More recently, there was a rash of nine car break-ins. Police "caught the kids," Sorg said. "And they (the kids) said they'd heard there were a lot of rich people in Los Altos." Sorg paused. "And most of those vehicles were unlocked."
Again, a crime of opportunity. "Practice crime prevention," she said.
What puzzles Sorg is why there isn't more crime in town. "There are huge lots, with overgrowth, flag lots that are private, no lights, no sidewalks. And still there's low crime," she said.
Maybe it's the people factor that makes the difference, what Carlton calls "our concerned and involved citizens. They are our extra eyes."
And she praises her officers for their people skills and problem solving.
Community policing is the basis of Los Altos law enforcement and is the philosophy of the city, "not just the police," Carlton said.
This is a philosophy that means to "work with members of the community to problem solve so both take responsibility for quality of life," Carlton said.
Like Pat Densmore and her neighbors who gathered together to learn about keeping their neighborhood even safer.
"We are people who talk to people," said Denny Densmore. "And that happens all over town."