People who live in the Palo Verde Neighborhood are taking action after a string of burglaries in the area. Ronni Kotwica is the president of the Palo Verde Neighborhood Association. She says this seems to be a summertime trend that she hopes her neighbors can stop.
Her motto: "harden the target."
Kotwica explained neighbors have seen strangers hanging around in the neighborhood, peering into homes, even walking through back alleys. She says burglaries are up, and the police recently told her that as well at a recent meeting.
According to Tucson Crime Mapping, there have been around 150 burglaries, robberies, thefts, and other property crimes since April in the boundaries of the neighborhood. That's between Speedway, Country Club, Grant, and Alvernon.
As many people are looking to take that late-summer vacation before taking the kids back to school, Kotwica is urging her neighbors to be vigilant and double check everything to make sure their homes are secure.
"Make sure that there's a light on, lights on in the house that come on and off during the evening hours," she said. "Make sure that everything is locked up: your doors, your gates, windows, everything needs to be secured."
While some of these reminders may seem to be self-explanatory and obvious to some, many of the recent burglaries have come from people coming in open or unlocked doors and windows, according to Kotwica.
