Some time ago we had an serious incident in our neighborhood that was beyond the usual burglaries and car theft, it was so serious that the Neighborhood came together in a number of meetings to discuss how we could build on the existing Neighborhood Watch Program that we were members of to achieve higher security. There was a strong feeling that something should be done and a feeling of coming together.

A number of initiatives were discussed including:

• Citizen patrol with Dogs
• Patrols by external security companies (Armed)
• Gated Community
• Public space video surveillance.
• Burglar alarms – with alarm response.
• Motion detector lights and other Ways to harden a house.
• Block Parties

A number of these initiatives are being or have been implemented.

Due to security and privacy concerns the exact location of our neighborhood cannot be disclosed at this time, but it is in the Oakland hills in the City of Oakland, Ca. Oakland is one of the most violent cities in the US (link CQpress City Crime Ranking 2011). Oakland Hills houses middle class neighborhoods and are frequent the target of burglars and thieves from the high crime areas of Oakland.