TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo neighborhood watch groups are working in tandem with law enforcement to keep their communities safe.
Patrick Harvey runs the Glendale/Heatherdowns to Glanzman neighborhood watch group in south Toledo and keeps his followers informed on Facebook.
"We're seeing ring doorbells stolen off of houses," he said. "We're seeing packages from Amazon stolen. We're also seeing car break-ins and catalytic converters [being stolen]."
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Most burglaries are crimes of opportunity, so Harvey suggested to Toledo Police a social media campaign that's been used nationwide called the 9 p.m. Routine. It reminds people to lock up their cars and homes by 9.
"By doing a social media blitz, it's just that easy reminder of locking your doors on your car, windows up, valuables out," Harvey said.
In the past six months, Harvey says they've lost service to a few apps they use to track crime in their neighborhoods. One was the Alertizen app, which Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre ended a partnership with in February. In a statement, Navarre said the following:
"The alert systems that utilize connectivity to 911 calls report only the information that is initially reported. Oftentimes, it is determined that what actually occurred is totally different than what was reported...This leaves our residents with a false sense of crime in their neighborhoods."
But Harvey believes these apps are useful.
"That information has not been shared with the community and a lot of people, we use that as a tool to keep our citizens safe in south Toledo," he said.
Another app is PulsePoint, run by a non-profit organization, which used to show all emergencies in Lucas County from medical, fire or police. But it's been deactivated for close to a month.
A spokesman responded for this story, adding:
"I encourage you to reach out directly to Lucas County EMS. We're looking into it as well, but haven't been able to connect with anyone at the department yet."
Harvey says he's looking to see if a new alert system can be developed locally where law enforcement and groups like his can work together.