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Under the cover of darkness one night in September, three young men drove through a downtown neighborhood, shooting out the windows of about 20 vehicles.
Shortly afterward, Houma Police detectives contacted Wright Avenue Neighborhood Watch Block Captain Mary Lynn Stewart to review footage from video cameras that record street activity. They quickly found views of three young men in a vehicle with a gun aimed out the window.
“Within 24 hours, they had a beautiful picture of the offenders, put out a bulletin and increased patrols – and the three young men were found,” Stewart said. “When you think about what it costs, the inconvenience. … We were very thankful that they solved it right away.”
Four months later, Wright-Avenue area residents whose vehicles were targets have started receiving their restitution payments from the young men.
Because of that kind of result, said Neighborhood Watch liaison Houma Police Sgt. Lee Lyons, some Terrebonne Parish Council members are pushing to budget for more video cameras for neighborhood watch communities and increased lighting next year. Already, grant funding has paid for 16 video cameras that are helping to provide crime-solving details in the neighborhood-watch communities.
“The police cannot be successful without involvement of the people,” Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis said. “Crime is not solely a police problem, it’s a community problem.”
That’s why one of Duplantis’ first actions after his 2008 appointment to chief was assigning an officer to the Neighborhood Watch program as part of his commitment to community policing, the practice of working closely with the community to solve crime.
Since that time, the number of Neighborhood Watch groups in the city has grown from two to 27 and involved a conscious effort to suggest starting one to nearly every complainant, Duplantis said. One of his goals was for a group to get started in Daniel Turner Trailer Park, which has been known as a high-crime area. That goal was met in January 2012.
“Prior to the Neighborhood Watch, we weren’t meeting with the residents. We knew there were problems (in the trailer park), but we weren’t getting information from the residents to explain the problems,” the police chief said. “We were responding there quite often, but there seems to be a decrease since we started the Neighborhood Watch.”
That translates into fewer complaint calls from residents and a quieter community reported in the Neighborhood Watch meetings. But the key, Duplantis said, is continuing to meet with residents.
“We have started to see an impact from it,” he said. “But we can’t do this and then stop doing it, even though (the crime rate) seems to be improving.”
In addition to increased narcotics patrols in 2011, Duplantis credits the Neighborhood Watch groups with a role in decreasing violent crime by nearly 33 percent and property crime by nearly 2.5 percent. That’s the largest decrease in violent crime in the city since 1985, the farthest back FBI statistics are available, he said.
“It was primarily because of (people) in the communities who pay attention to all the details and call, even if it’s minor,” Lyons said. Putting together minor details – like license plate numbers, distinctive markings on a vehicle and a suspect’s clothing description – can help solve crimes. “It helps us do our job.”
While the latest crime statistics for the city of Houma show a slight increase in violent and property crimes, Duplantis believes the Neighborhood Watch groups are helping keep crime down and solve property crimes.
“Overall, I feel like we’re maintaining,” he said, because forcible rapes and robberies logged in 2012 are down 76 percent and 21 percent, respectively. The murder rate held steady – with one murder being committed in the city; the death of a victim who has been on life support since 2009 raised the murder rate in 2012 to two.
Slight increases were noted in aggravated assaults and property crimes. Duplantis attributes those increases to more aggravated assaults being reported by the growing Hispanic community; the economy and unemployment rate are impacting the rate of thefts.
But fighting property crime is an area that can really be impacted by Neighborhood Watch groups, Duplantis said. “People in community groups are the eyes and ears to make the community safer. You don’t have to catch the bad guy, just give us the description.”
In Neighborhood Watch meetings, Lyons shares recent neighborhood crime statistics, collects information from residents on activities and concerns, and helps the residents find pathways to solving such issues as abandoned or blighted housing, broken streets and burnt street-light bulbs – things that can impact home values. Lyons forwards the information gathered to fellow officers and parish officials to help address residents’ concerns.
Starting a Neighborhood Watch group only requires concerned citizens who are willing to cooperate with police and meet monthly or quarterly. It’s only a commitment of time and energy, not money.
“It’s neighbors … try to keep it informal, relaxed,” said Stewart, who not only organizes the Wright Avenue group’s meetings and participation in National Night Out but also assists newly forming Neighborhood Watch groups. “It’s crime prevention, education, getting to know and watch out for neighbors. … It doesn’t have to be stressful” or require a spotlessly clean house.
“We can meet anywhere in the neighborhood that’s comfortable for the residents,” including someone’s living room or gazebo in a park, Duplantis said. A couple of groups meet at restaurants; three meet at the police department because they don’t have a comfortable meeting place in their own neighborhoods.
Although deputies address existing Neighborhood Watch groups in the city when requested, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office does not have an active Neighborhood Watch program for parish residents. However, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter wants to restart it as soon as he can increase the number of officers on staff. In the meantime, he urges parish residents interested in forming a group to contact Maj. Mike Dean at (985) 876-2500. City residents should call Houma Police Sgt. Lyons at (985) 873-6371 to get organized.
“The eyes and ears of the public are the main tools to solve crimes,” Larpenter said. “Communication is the most important thing in law enforcement.”
Mary Lynn Stewart, block captain of the Wright Avenue Neighborhood Watch group, shows the capability of video cameras to record street activity while Houma Police Sgt. Lee Lyons, Neighborhood Watch liaison, looks on.
