EUCALYPTUS HILLS NEIGHBORS HOPE TO SNAG MAIL THIEF CAUGHT ON SURVEILLANCE VIDEO

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Residents spread word through social networking of crimes and more, strengthening bonds in close-knit community

April 12, 2013 (Eucalyptus Hills) --A hidden surveillance camera in Lakeside captured a mail thief in action last night, ECM has learned.  View the video.   Property owner Dennis Richardson, an award-winning ECM photographer,  has posted the video on his Facebook page and on the community’s Brush Fire Partyline website. He is hopeful that alert neighbors and law enforcement will lead to arrest of the thief, whose vehicle is also shown in the video.

 “Eucalyptus Hills is a very safe neighborhood with proactive people who have a huge network of communications – Facebook, e-mail and just neighborly across the fence,’ Richardson told ECM. “We can get the word out to a lot of people really quickly. Everybody is on the lookout and knows what to look for, so our neighborhood is safer than most.”

After a past rash of mail theft, the community formed a Neighborhood Watch group and invited postal inspectors and Sheriff’s representatives. After learning that mail  theft can also lead to identity theft, many residents invested in locking mailboxes—and surveillance cameras.

“We can document people walking by and cars driving past,” Richardson said. “And when we have a problem like this, most of us know we can call the sheriff and  it pushes the criminals out of our neighborhood and into easier places to prey upon.”

The neighborhoods’ connection via social media has benefits beyond protection, however. 

“It’s more than just Neighborhood Watch fighting crime. When the dog or cat goes missing, or there are neighborhood gardens, we’re letting people know,” Richardson said. “ One lady gives free vegetables away out of her homegrown organic neighborhood to the neighbors; another guy sells tomato plants really cheap,”  Yet another has started a community garden on his property, allowing community residents to come over and garden.

Other Eucalyptus Hills residents are also taking a lead role in keeping the community informed.  Bob Robeson, a retired Cal Fire Battalion Chief who lives in the neighborhood, sends out emails to neighbors to alert them about fires, suspicious activities, lost pets and more.

In the past, neighbors in Eucalyptus Hills met at an elementary school. “That school is gone now,” Richardson observed. “The sense of community really fell away for a couple of years after the school closed, but now it’s coming back strong…With social media, the community is getting closer and meeting each other in another way now.”

The community also has a Fire Safe Council and an active planning association that works  to help make Eucalyptus Hills a better place to live while preserving the rural character.

Richardson likens the community to an island, a place with its own community character and where large lots make it all the more important to know your neighbors.

Neighborhood efforts to combat crime is having a positive effect.

“We are really fighting crime; wwe have to with the county releasing criminals due to budget cuts, with more mentally ill out on the street and halfway houses. These things affect every community,” Richadrson concludes.  “The Sheriff says our crime rate is going down due to our proactive ways we use to communicate.  We’re making our community better, nicer, and safer for the kids and for all of the people who live here.”

 

 


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