Delaware State News
DOVER — After items were stolen from Gail Buckler’s garage in a night-time burglary last October, she did not merely get mad.
She got her development, Fairfield Farms, organized.
More than 80 people gathered in her driveway, she recalled Tuesday, and from that meeting a crime-watch program began. Residents patrolled their streets, made key contacts at the state police troop near Woodside and learned from similar neighborhood groups elsewhere in Kent County.
Before long, burglaries at the 200-plus homes in Fairfield Farms ceased.
"We have people we can call on at any time to walk (patrol) for us," Ms. Buckler said.
Alas, early this year, patrols became less frequent.
"Everything was going along great," said Ms. Buckler’s neighbor Roger Hollopeter, who was instrumental in starting the program. "We got complacent."
And last week their neighborhood and a few others in the Moores Lake area got hit again.
Residents awoke Friday to find unlocked garage doors had led to a rash of thefts from cars and houses — mostly of electronic goods such as iPods, DVD players and digital cameras, according to state police spokesman Sgt. Joshua Bushweller. Seven residential burglaries were reported that night, and a number of cars parked outdoors were broken into, he said.
Those were not the only such crimes to occur south of Dover in recent days.
Camden police said 10 house burglaries were reported in their jurisdiction May 9 and Sgt. Bushweller said three near Moores Lake were reported to state police May 12.
Calls to Camden police were referred to Sgt. Gary Melvin, who could not be reached for comment.
Sgt. Bushweller said state police have not developed specific suspects. But he offered a tip for helping catch whoever is responsible for the offenses: Call 911 when a suspicious person or vehicle is spotted.
"Often, these cases are solved by someone who reports seeing someone sitting down in the cul de sac or driving around with their lights off," he said.
Anyone with tips on the recent cases can call state police at 697-4455 or Crimestoppers at 800-TIP-3333.
Ms. Buckler has some no-nonsense advice on how to thwart theft: Lock garages, lock doors, lock windows, lock motor vehicles, leave nothing visible in vehicles parked outdoors.
And turn on the lights.
She urges homeowners to keep all their outside lights burning at night — at least for a few more months.
By autumn, street lights are to be installed in Fairfield Farms and on Candelwicke Road and South Shore Drive. Kent County Levy Court unanimously approved the project last week — two nights before the latest burglaries — after residents overwhelmingly voiced support for it in a public hearing.
Ms. Buckler and Mr. Hollopeter credit Sen. Colin Bonini, R-Dover, with pushing for the state funding that will pay for the installation, and they say Fairfield Farms resident Herb Konowitz did much to get the project from the talking stage to the point where the state and the county would back it.
But even Mr. Konowitz let his guard down Thursday night.
"I went to bed and left my garage doors open, which I never do," he said. The next day he found a portable Global Positioning System had been stolen from his car, and the console of his wife’s car had been torn apart.
"They’re getting a bit ruthless," he said of the culprit or culprits. "It’s a mess. It’s very scary."
Ms. Buckler knows what he means.
"Once you have been (victimized), you never feel safe again," she said.
The neighborhood patrols have intensified. At any hour, a resident may be on the street and on the lookout, often attired in a bright yellow vest that is meant to announce Fairfield Farms is being guarded. Sometimes the vest is worn over a running shirt; a few members of the patrol combine guard duty with their daily exercise.
And if they are like Mr. Hollopeter, they may be doing more than merely observing.
"I had to wake four people up the other night," he said, "to get them to close their garage doors."
