TULSA – Midtown residents are working together to fight back against crime.

Monday night, hundreds of residents, Tulsa police officers and city leaders gathered to discuss ways to be better neighbors and in turn bring down crime in Tulsa.

The Tulsa Midtown Alert Neighbors is the largest group like it in Tulsa and officials say they are setting an example other neighbors should be following.

Midtown resident, Blair Brockman, says she’s put her alert neighbor training to good use as recently as Saturday, when one of her neighbors’ alarms went off.

“When the police came we were able to tell them, hey I am the captain for alert neighbors, they’re going yes, the program works,” said Brockman.

She was able to give officers valuable information for her neighbor, who happened to be out of town.

Monday night marked the first annual meeting for Tulsa Midtown Alert Neighbors.

The group formed last year after a string of robberies, police say since then crime has gone down.

“The way they’re sharing information about crime, the way they’re sharing information about suspicious people in the area, they’re really watching out for each other,” said Tulsa Police Chief, Chuck Jordan.

Carol bush, the executive director of the Crime Commission, she credits the group’s willingness.

She points to their methods when others are interested in starting an alert neighbor program.

“In getting the word out, with their iPhones or their smart phones, taking those pictures, uploading them, I’ve got neighborhood groups all over town that go to this Facebook page to get real time information,” said Bush.

Monday’s meeting was to help reinforce the current momentum and reach out to new neighbors.

“I though it was great, lots of good ideas, I’m ready to sign up,” said midtown resident, Elizabeth Crews.

“It’s gone down because we’ve gotten after it, it starts with the citizen, it starts with citizenship and ownership,” said Brockman.

If would like to form an alert neighbor program or if you would like to find out about one that may already exist in your neighborhood you can call the Crime Commission at (918) 585- 5209 or click here.

Read more: http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/alert-neighbor-program-helps-bring-down-crime-in-midtown#ixzz1l42EhAJR

Special Guests:

Chuck Jordan, Chief of Police

Major Julie Harris, Riverside Division Commander

Carol Bush, Crime Commission

Blake Ewing, District #4 City Councilor

G.T. Bynum, District #9 City Councilor

•  By: Jason Grubbs

Read more: http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/alert-neighbor-captures-crime-in-progress-on-camera#ixzz1kyHavcZB

Generation tXt is a project designed to help young teens and families practice safe driving. Click here to find out more.

You remain anonymous and your information can make the difference in solving a crime.

See how you can help by starting an Alert Neighbors program in your area.

Whether it’s a suspicious man with stolen property in front of her house, a suspicious vehicle down the street or a home burglary in progress, Donna Lee knows what to do. She’s been trained.

Lee, 59, is a block captain in her Maxwell Neighborhood Association’s Alert Neighbors program and has watched crime in her neighborhood drop significantly during the past year as she and others in the neighborhood actively sought training and then trained others on how to spot suspicious activity and correctly report it to authorities.

They found the help they were looking for at the Crime Commission, a Tulsa organization that has educated and raised awareness about crime for more than 30 years.

Executive Director Carol Bush said calls to the Crime Commission have gone up by 50 percent since police layoffs as concerned residents look for help starting an Alert Neighbors program in their neighborhood.

“We’ve had a tremendous increase in requests,” Bush said. “Crime is hitting all four areas of town. There are no boundaries.”

Alert Neighbors is a program that teaches residents to keep an eye on criminal activity in their neighborhood and gives those residents a guide on how to work together to reduce crime in general.

“Bad guys don’t like to be watched,” Bush said.

Constant ebb and flow

Through the Alert Neighbors program, Bush said, active groups have seen a high rate of success at reducing crime in their areas, but group activity goes up and down as crime goes up and down in a neighborhood.

“If a group lets their guard down, crime will go up and Alert Neighbors becomes important again,” she said. “There’s a constant ebb and flow with Alert Neighbors.”

Lee, who helped start the Alert Neighbors program in her neighborhood near Yale Avenue and Pine Street about a year ago, said crime has dramatically decreased and her neighbors have become more active as they see the program has helped.

Using the Tulsa World’s Crime Tracker database to compare all police reports in the Maxwell neighborhood before Alert Neighbors began there to the same month a year later, records show 45 crime reports were made in the neighborhood in December 2008.

In December 2009, there were 31 total crime reports in the neighborhood, which extends from Admiral Boulevard north to Pine Street and from Yale Avenue to Sheridan Avenue, showing a decrease in crime of more than 30 percent in those two months.

Getting started

Bush said there are about 750 active Alert Neighbors programs in Tulsa and some have more success than others.

When a group calls the Crime Commission at 585-5209 to start an Alert Neighbors program, the organization sends them a packet of information on the program and then schedules a “first meeting” with the group to educate the members on how to help burglar-proof their homes, deter would-be robbers from finding easy targets and effectively assist police in the event of a crime, Bush said.

Alert Neighbors also encourages groups to create phone and e-mail lists for neighbors and to establish block captains, who can go through special training and be a central contact for others in the neighborhood.

The Crime Commission said they send out about 450 information packets about Alert Neighbors every year, and most groups take the next step to have a first meeting, Bush said.

“We get huge attention when something bad is going on,” she said.

Filling in the gaps

Despite numerous active neighborhood groups that have participated in the Alert Neighbors program, Bush said there are gaps in Tulsa where criminals have embedded themselves.

In some neighborhoods, people are even too scared to begin a neighborhood watch program for fear they would be targeted, she said.

“They’re afraid,” Bush said. “That’s why they don’t want to bring attention to themselves.”

Also, some Alert Neighbors programs just don’t take off because of a lack of participation, she said.

“The neighborhoods that are most successful are where 10 or more people are involved,” Bush said.

“Bad guys just don’t like to be watched.”

Rip Stell/Tulsa World

Tulsa families joined in with the high-speed professional cyclists Sunday for a ride through Tulsa and some children earned a brand new Tulsa Tough bike upon completing the course.

The Tulsa Tough Townie Ride opened up Tulsa Tough to everyone with an eight-mile ride Sunday afternoon, beginning and ending at about 15th Street and Riverside Drive.

Mark Riddle and his two sons, 12-year-old Zach Riddle and 9-year-old Jaden Riddle, rode together and were excited, despite the hot weather and recent injuries.

Zach had a bandage on his left knee from a recent accident, he said.

“My wheel got caught between the sidewalk and the grass and I fell off,” he said.

His father said Zach wouldn’t let a fall keep him from the ride.

“He’s coming back from a knee injury,” he said. “He’s Tulsa tough.”

Jaden was on a sparkling new bike his father just bought for him.

“This is his (Jaden’s) first time riding a long way on a bike with more than one speed,” said Mark Riddle. “So he’s excited.”

About 700 people rode, including 70 children who earned their Tough Kid Challenge bike, said Tonja Pitzer, River Parks Authority public relations and events manager.

Paul Thomas, Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative coordinator with the Community Service Council, said he was riding with 13 children who completed the Tulsa Tough Challenge this year through a partner program at Kendall-Whittier Elementary School. “Everyone of them finished,” he said. “They were all excited and proud of themselves.”

The children rode their Trek bikes, provided by Children’s Hospital at St. Francis, according to the Tulsa Tough official website.

To complete the challenge, children in third, fourth or fifth grade must attend a Safe Escape class conducted by the Crime Commission, complete a take-home worksheet on bike safety, attend a skills and drills class on bicycle handling and participate in the Tulsa Townie ride.

Thomas said the Kendall-Whittier program is part of a new partnership with Tulsa Tough that allows kids to earn their bike in an after-school program that teaches them delayed gratification and how to reach goals.

About seven parents of children in the Kendall-Whittier program joined in on the Townie Ride to support their children, he said.

All Tulsa Townie riders received a ride-finisher’s medal at the end of the ride, and Tough Kids Challenge riders got their official certificate of ownership for their bicycles.