On duty: Lisa Cater (l.) and Maria Midboe keep an eye on things in East Atlanta Village. patrik jonsson/the Christian Science Monitor

On the watch: Lisa Cater is part of a neighborhood block watch in East Atlanta Village. 'I've lived in Atlanta all my life, and I've never seen crime this bad,' she says. patrik jonsson/the christian science monitor

Lisa Cater's group uses spotlights and online posts on Twitter. The map on the left shows the routes block patrollers take every day. patrik jonsson/the christian science monitor

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As property crimes increase, more neighbors are on patrol

Armed with cellphones, flashlights, and Twitter posts, they can make a positive difference.

from the January 27, 2009 edition

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Rufus Terrill talks about the "Bumbot," a remote-controlled robot that he created and patrols the Atlanta neighborhood where Terrill's business is located.

"It's an absolute perfect storm," says Woodson. "[Federal policing grants] were cut before the economic crisis, which is just now playing out on the law enforcement front. And now you have people being laid off, and some of those people are going to start stealing in a variety of different ways."

Rising property crimes a factor

Though violent crimes are down across the nation, property crimes by many accounts are rising. (FBI crime figures for 2008 won't be available until fall.) Transitional neighborhoods around major urban centers are particularly prone to the cause-and-effect between rising crime and community patrols, as national migration figures slow and more and more Americans hunker down.

"When we retreat, we feel vulnerable," says Gregg Barak, a criminologist at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.

What seems to have sparked many groups isn't just low level crime, but high profile incidents and brazen tactics like bashing in front doors to get at large flat-screen TVs. The murder in Atlanta of a bartender by four armed bandits on Jan. 7 resulted in the creation of a group called Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC). In the span of two weeks, the group had almost 5,000 members on Facebook.

"I'm not sure the total level of crime is changing significantly, and the conveyor belt that produces crime is more or less the same," says Robert Friedmann, a criminologist at Georgia State University. "The problem comes when you have a human story that suddenly has a new twist."

Two years ago, Lisa Cater was part of a real estate boomlet in East Atlanta Village, a community about three miles from downtown, as mostly white suburbanites flooded back to the city. But now that movement has largely stopped, many houses are empty, and criminals have become more brazen and open, she says.

"This is the worst I've ever seen it," she says, describing what she calls a "property-driven turf war."

With her partner, Maria Midboe, Ms. Cater patrols her street in an imposing black Jeep, often using a high-power spotlight to shine on suspicious characters.

"The only way we can make a difference is to take personal responsibility and do something about it," she says.

Amateur crime fighters like Cater can be found across the nation.

In Plano, Texas, residents created a watch group to look after vacant and abandoned homes. In New Orleans, groups like Silence is Violence are using Twitter alarms and cell phone messages to fight that city's violent crime wave.

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