FISHERS, Ind. -- On any given shift, 12 to 15 Fishers police officers are patrolling neighborhoods looking for anything out of the ordinary.
"We have a lot of daytime break-in's because people are at work, nobody's home. Children are at school. It's ample opportunity for criminals to break into a house," Officer Tom Brooks said.
But in Fishers, burglaries have been steadily declining and the police force points to patrols like this as a big reason.
"We attribute that to the initiative of the patrol officers and the strong partnership with the community because this is teamwork at it's best and we've seen the positive results of that," Sgt. Tom Weger said.
Using intelligence gathered, the Fishers Police Department found that most residential burglaries happen weekdays between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. when homeowners are gone. The response was to place extra patrols in neighborhoods and burglaries have dropped steadily over the last three years. There were 30 in 2014 and 26 in 2015.
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In Carmel, burglaries have been cut in half since 2013, with 71 in 2014 and 66 in 2015, by police using the same techniques and partnerships with Crime Watch Neighborhoods.
"As the evenings get dark, I will drive through the neighborhood to see if garage doors are down," Shari Knox.
Knox is Crime Watch Coordinator for her Fishers neighborhood. One of 80 that take part in the program. She says the result has been zero burglaries.
"When I see things in the neighborhood, I contact someone. If it's a home I know of, then I call the person, but often, we have a number with FPD and tell them," Knox said.
It is a partnership that is paying off and keeping neighborhoods safe.
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