This year’s spike in violent crime has had Anchorage neighborhoods on edge, and many people asking what they can do to help.
Officer Robin Nave is part of the Anchorage Police Department’s (APD) Community Action Policing team. In January, she attempted to survey residents in all community councils within the municipality regarding crime issues in their neighborhoods. Airport Heights residents participated in the survey, and Thursday night she presented the results to the community council.
The data revealed residents in the area believe the top five crime issues they have are: Burglary/theft, speeding, homelessness, parking, and junk vehicles. From January 1 to October 14 of 2016, 4,156 calls to APD for service were generated in the Airport Heights area. Those calls break down into 317 theft reports, 135 burglary reports, 247 traffic incidents, 502 traffic stops, and 268 parking problems.
[Related: Anchorage police want to teach you how to track local crime online]
Officer Nave said, often times, crime mapping shows a general problem area in a neighborhood, but that wasn’t the case for Airport Heights.
“When I started to look at your entire community, it wasn’t one area, it was the entire community as a whole,” she told the crowd at Thursday’s meeting.
After hours of research and observing the neighborhood in an unmarked car, she put together a list of things residents can do to help deter crime. Suggestions include parking in a driveway and off the street when possible, installing lights in the back of homes to light up the alleyways, and spending time outside in groups to create a positive presence in the streets and parks. She also encouraged residents to report suspicious activity and homeless camps.
Residents like Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz, who grew up in the neighborhood and is now raising a family there, said he’s noticed a change.
“Anchorage no longer looks like the neighborhood, well the kind of city, I grew up in when I was a kid,” said Avellaneda-Cruz. “We used to ride bikes all over town. With my kids, I’m not really gonna let them do that because I know the trail system looks much different now.”
He says he experienced the danger firsthand this past summer.
“I was basically taking photos of a car that was not from around here and I recognized it being out of place, and that led to me being surrounded and assaulted,” said Avellaneda-Cruz.
Since then, he says he’s decided he will not live in fear. He now walks through his neighborhood often, connecting with people who live nearby and keeping an eye out for suspicious activity.
“It’s always nice when we meet our neighbors outside of the context of sirens, you know,” he said.
The Airport Heights Community Council is in the process of starting a safety patrol.
How is your neighborhood dealing with the issue of safety? Let us know.
KTVA 11’s Daniella Rivera can be reached via email or on Facebook and Twitter.
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