Report suspicious activity and keep our neighborhood safe!

• Tips to Keep Your Family and Property Safe

• Plano Police Department

• Crime Watch Coordinator

You can be assured that your name will be held in confidence when you report something to the police.

Get to know your neighbors.

An alert and cooperative neighborhood is the greatest single defense against crime. You should know how to contact all the neighbors surrounding your residence. Download this worksheet help you record this information.

Install security devices to complement your security system.

You can help protect your home by installing security devices and using them.

Have a Home Security Survey.

The Plano Police Department offers a free home security survey to help you make your home and property more secure. An officer will come to your home and look "through the eyes of a burglar" to help you learn about any vulnerabilities to the security of your home. The officer will offer tips on how to make it more difficult for someone to enter unlawfully. The survey takes about an hour. Call the Crime Prevention Unit for details at 972-941-2431.

More suggestions to keep your residence and your family safe.

OPEN DOOR POLICY - Invitation to a Burglar

In late March, a Creekbend Estates neighbor saw 7 youths (2 on bicycles) in his alley who appeared to be looking for something. As he tracked them on his own bicycle, he later observed that 2 bicycles had turned into 4, also noting open garage doors along the way. Had they “found” 2 discarded bicycles? He asked a neighbor who was outside to call 911. The youths left, and a police cruiser followed up.

In mid-July just north of Legacy and Coit another incident occurred with an open garage door. A woman had left her overhead garage door open, then came out of the house into the garage on her way to the trash and stumbled onto a burglary in progress.  The female suspect was inside the homeowner’s vehicle (parked in the garage) going through the victim's purse.  Upon being discovered, the suspect left the garage with several stolen items, never to be seen again.

Open Garage Door Policy:  If you leave it open, they will come. The burglars know the neighborhoods that regularly issue that “open” invitation. Let’s take Creekbend Estates off their list.   —David Ellison Crime Watch

Invitation to a Burglar

Have you been inviting criminal minds to visit your home?  One sure way is to issue an invitation by placing boxes in the alley with HDTV, computer, or game console logos on the sides.  Such a simple way to tell the invitees that you have new, expensive electronic equipment.

The boxes should be cut up with a box cutter and placed in the recycle containers.  Simply piling the boxes outside in the alley creates hazards for our neighbors in several ways. 

First, the boxes can topple into the alley impeding traffic.  As a driver, would you stop your car and move the box?  Would you drive over the box?  Would your car be hit by another driver coming into the alley?  Would you be tempted to throw the box over the fence, thus hitting someone in the yard?

Second, boxes can be blown by the wind or scattered by children.  If your box happens to land behind your neighbor’s house, you may be setting them up to be burglarized. So a loose box in the alley may lead to burglars cruising our alleys to identify possible targets for a visit.  Please take care, my friends.  —Hope Nusbaum   Top of page

Do this now:

Verify your 911 information. Officer Dawson said that every phone number in Plano is supposed to be automatically keyed to a name and address in the police database. Occasionally, rarely, the information is wrong, which could be catastrophic in an emergency. He urged every resident to make a “dry run” check on this information by doing the following:

·      Call 911 from each land line in the home.

·      Mention Officer Dawson’s name.

·      Confirm that the information about that phone line is correct.

Your 911 call is anonymous. Perhaps you want to report a noisy neighborhood party or a disturbance next door. If you want your 911 call to be anonymous, the responding officers will honor that wish. The 911 operator is supposed to ask you if you want a follow-up report. If he doesn't ask, bring it up yourself. You can request a phoned report. Or if you aren't concerned about being identified, the officer can stop by your house with a report.

Free Security Check!  Do you know how easy it is to break into a garage…and the easiest fix to make it harder to break in? Creekbend residents can call Officer Dawson at 972-941-2146 to schedule a free two-hour security check for their homes.

Crime Watch

Crime Watch Block Captains

The following people have volunteered to serve as Crime Watch Block Captains. Block captains alert the coordinator, David Ellison, to situations on their streets and sometimes report information back to neighbors. To volunteer, please call 972-516-0961.

posted 9/03

Crime Watch

More Tips to Keep Your Family and Property Safe

DO...
Putting DSL on a home phone line can sometimes interfere with the way your home security system makes its automated emergency call to your home security monitoring company.  If you get DSL installed then re-test your security system’s ability to call your monitoring company.
When a home security system is activated it makes an automated call to your monitoring company.  That call can control your phone line for between 15 seconds to two minutes depending on a number of factors.  During that time you cannot call 911 using that line.  That does not cause a problem if you arm your system while you are away from home.  It may cause a temporary problem if you arm your system while you are asleep, because you may want 911 if the alarm sounds instead of relying on your monitoring system process.  You have at least three options: Have easy access to a second land line that you can use in an emergency. Consider not arming your system when you sleep IF (and only IF) the short sound the system makes when a door opens is enough to wake you.  Keep a mobile phone handy.
Keep in mind that you can reach the police dialing 911 from a mobile phone, but only a land line will automatically provide the police or fire department your name and current address.  With a mobile phone police only get the phone number and identification of the tower to which the mobile phone has connected.
Most home security alarm pads show a green light when it is not armed and a red light when it is armed.  Burglars have been known to look through a door or window to check your security pad for a green light before they enter.  Cover the green light with a small piece of black tape.  If they see neither a red nor green light they won’t know for sure that it is not armed.
Keep a record of your neighbor's contact information, including home, work, cell phone, pager numbers, as well as their work email address and auto info. Download this worksheet help you record this information.
Write down emergency phone numbers and keep them near your phone. It is also a good idea to program these numbers into your cell phone in the event you have to evacuate your residence. In an emergency, you should always call 911.
Make sure that at least one of your neighbors knows your emergency contact numbers in the event that an emergency occurs while you are away from home. When you leave your residence for a trip or vacation, make sure that a trusted neighbor knows of your absence and will keep an eye on your property, and that they know how to get in touch with you while you are away.
Keep doors closed and locked at all times. The same applies to your vehicles.
Keep garage door windows covered so a thief can't peep in.
When you go away for an extended period of time, padlock your garage door through its track.
Add exterior security lighting.
When leaving your vehicle, take any items that may tempt a thief out of the car, or at least lock them up out of sight in the trunk. It is best to do this before you reach your destination so that no one will see you transferring your items and break in when your vehicle is unattended.
When leaving your vehicle, do not leave anything with sensitive information on it in the car. Thieves can use your personal information from insurance cards, letters, or other items to commit fraud in your name!  They could also steal your garage door opener along with your address information.  They would then have your address and essentially a key to your house!
When leaving your vehicle, park in well-lighted areas as close to the building entrance as possible.
KEEP YOUR GARAGE DOORS CLOSED even when you are working outside.
If you have a home security system installed, post a sign in your front yard and on your rear fence (#1 deterrent of break-ins).
Install motion detection lights that illuminate your driveway.
Install a motion detection module in your front porch lights.
Keep your automobiles locked to avoid having your garage door opener stolen, or keep your car in the garage with the garage door closed. Due to previous incidents of locked automobile break-ins in Creekbend Estates, it would be wise to keep your automobile in the garage at night and/or remove the garage remote control.
Keep your alley grass mowed. A neglected alley way may neglected security to an intruder.
Keep the door from your home to your garage locked at night. Keep all garage windows locked at night.
If using an exterior wall mounted keypad remote for your electric garage door opener, do not use your street address as the code.
If you have a home security system installed, use it! When is the best time for an intruder to enter your house? When it is clear you are on vacation, or Sunday mornings when many of our neighbors are at church.
When out of town, arrange for a neighbor to pick up your mail, packages, and newspaper at the times your would normally retrieve them.
Install a secondary lock on all doors that can easily be unlocked. For example, install a double-keyed deadbolt lock on patio doors that can be unlocked by breaking the glass. Install single keyed deadbolts on the door between your home and your garage (If you have tools in your garage, an intruder will easily get in your home unseen through this door).
Set timers to turn lights on and off when you are out of town to simulate normal activity.
Acknowledge people driving through our neighborhood. A smile or a wave will let them know they have been seen (It is a proven fact that when people believe they have been seen and acknowledged, they are less likely to steal).
Introduce your children to a neighbor(s) where they can wait for you if they are locked out of your home.
Contact your Crime Watch Coordinator to report a crime that has taken place.
Keep your exterior lights on at night.
Be aware that the "prime time" for break-ins occurs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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