Summer is Here!

And unfortunately that means more break-ins in SLNA are likely to occur. We’ve already had reports from a few neighbors about cars and homes being broken into, and of suspicious ‘security alarm salesmen’ going door-to-door. This is a good time to remind everyone to be on the lookout for suspicious activity. If you see something in progress, please call 911. If you feel something is amiss but don’t feel it is of an emergency nature, then call 311 to report it. In either case, let your neighbors know.

This is a good time to get on the South Lamar Yahoo group email list to share and get updates on this type of information. Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SouthLamarNA/ for more information.

Austin Police Department provides a Crime Viewer utility where you can see what crimes have occurred in your area. Find that site here: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS/crimeviewer/CrimeViewer_disclaimer.html.

Another useful sight is Jack Darby’s Krimelabb. Many of you remember Jack from our April 2012 SLNA meeting where he talked to us about the valuable services that Krimelabb provides. Visit Krimelabb here: http://www.krimelabb.com, and get up-to-date Krimelabb tweets at: https://twitter.com/#!/krimelabb. Krimelabb just tweeted some interesting news and also posted a security alert about these ‘salesmen’.

Remember to lock your doors and windows, and keep valuables out of sight!

Neighborhood Crime

As recently reported by the Austin American-Statesman, the Barton Hills area has seen a decrease in crime activity in their neighborhood due, in part, to their increased vigilance and neighborhood watch program. We, in SLNA, have seen an increase in crime in recent years, and were greatly alarmed by the home invasion that occurred on Waterloo Trail over the Halloween weekend. Officer Robert Barboza, our APD District Representative, attended our last neighborhood meeting on November 17, and relayed information about this incident to us. Above all, Officer Barboza encourages us to be vigilant and to call 911 whenever we observe suspicious activity requiring an immediate response, or to call 311 with other concerns. We have been talking with the Zilker neighborhood about their neighborhood watch activities and are considering what we can do within SLNA to be a noticeable force against crime. If you’d like to get involved, please contact us.

Austin Police Department ‘Burglary in Austin’ Report

Special thanks to Kim Rossmo for providing to us with a power point presentation given by APD at the APSC meeting on Burglary in Austin. Kim had asked APD for a report on the burglary problem in the city and offered to share it with the SLNA. You can view the Power Point report here. There is also a PDF version of the report here. The report includes graphs based on APD’s data and some commentary. If you have any questions please join us for the next SLNA meeting on Mar 17.