TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Two weeks ago a woman named Candice saw a man leaving her backyard in the ally behind her house.
"As I came I noticed the gate was open," she said.
Candice says she recognized the man and knew who she was looking at. Residents say that particular person has committed crimes in the Palo Verde and Garden District neighborhoods for years.
The man, according to Candice, was leaving on a black bike, wearing black sunglasses and a black hat.
"Unbeknownst to me he has my weedwacker," she said.
Candice says that man broke into her backyard shed early on a Sunday morning about two weeks ago. The man apparently bypassed the lock and the door and went through the window to grab Candice's weedwacker.
Once the Palo Verde Neighborhood resident realized what was happening, she immediately called 911.
"Even though a weedwacker is not a high-dollar value, you want the police to know about it,:" said Candice.
Multiple police vehicles arrived within a few minutes which is something that Candice is happy about. The feeling is mutual for the Tucson Police Department.
"The more active they are the more active we can exchange information," said Lt. John Strader.
Strader works with Operations Division Midtown. He says they want their officers to be experts about what is going on in the communities they serve. Neighborhood associations, like the Palo Verde Neighborhood Association, communicate with officers regularly through email or phone calls.
"We try to find out what is important to them, what are their prevailing problems or areas of immediate concern and we try to make those our priority situations as well," said Strader.
