Residents say new development that’s resulting in older homes being left vacant for extended periods of time is contributing to an increase in crime in South Surrey’s Grandview Heights neighbourhood.
“Not necessarily people living in new development, but homes that have been left to decay, and a lot of crack houses… and just some salacious type of behaviour,” Victoria Blinkhorn, chair of the Grandview Heights Stewardship Association, explained.
But the residents are not simply sitting back waiting for authorities to deal with the problem.
Last month, about two dozen members of four Block Watch groups in the area – Country Woods, 31 Avenue, Grandview Heights and Grandview Acres – met to learn more about what they can do to get a handle on the issue, and prevent further problems.
It was “to give people information on how to make their homes less attractive to burglars,” Peter Tilbury, longtime captain of the Country Woods Block Watch, said Tuesday.
Police “are doing what they can. But they can’t be around every place, 24 hours a day.”
According to Surrey’s online mapping system, COSMOS, 23 residential break-ins have been reported in the area bordered by 32 Avenue to the south, 170 Street to the east, 24 Avenue to the north and 161 Street to the west in the past six months. There were also nine vehicles stolen and seven theft-from-vehicle reports. Theft from and damage to community mailboxes is also a regular occurrence.
The March 27 event at the Kensington Prairie Community Centre included presentations on home-security options and crime-prevention programs – information one resident wishes she’d known about six months ago, so she could have addressed weaknesses in her home that enabled a thief to break in and clean out her jewelry last November.
“What they stole was irreplaceable,” said Sybil Rowe, describing a collection she had amassed over the past 50 years.
The culprit gained access through a vulnerable exterior door, managing, initially at least, to avoid setting off the senior’s burglar alarm. Inside for just five minutes after the alarm triggered, the aftermath for Rowe continues.
“I’m just now starting to feel normal,” she said.
Tilbury – describing the Grandview area as experiencing burglary incidents “quite frequently” – said he was surprised to learn just how vulnerable the exterior doors of many homes are.
Two years ago, he learned the hard way that sliding windows can also have their pitfalls.
The individual who broke into his home at around 5 p.m. on a Friday was only in the house for two or three minutes, but was able to leave with “all my wife’s jewelry, her mother’s jewelry, her grandmother’s…,” Tilbury said.
“When they actually caught her, which was a few days later, she was charged with 14 break-ins.”
As a Block Watch captain, Tilbury is advised any time there’s an incident in his neighbourhood. He disseminates the information to ensure all Country Woods residents are in the know.
The most recent alert came this past Monday, after an individual on a BMX was spotted seemingly casing for break-in opportunities – checking doors and looking in windows. The stranger is described as a Caucasian male, with spikey, blond hair and carrying a black backpack.
Tilbury said a good way for residents to identify weaknesses in their home’s security is to look at the issue from the opposite side of the coin: think like a criminal.
“(They) should take a look at their houses, not as though they live in them but as though they want to break into them,” he said.
He described the Block Watch system as one that has “definitely” made the Grandview Heights area safer, and encouraged residents of other neighbourhoods to follow suit.
Both Rowe and Tilbury said they had hoped more of their neighbours would have attended last month’s meeting. Rowe had even gone door-to-door to encourage them to attend – “I wanted to get a community spirit operating.”
She noted that one resident who opted against was a victim of crime just a week later. Others who declined told her “we’re alright, thank you,” she said.
But that complacency is “the biggest mistake” people can make today, Rowe said.
“I had a monitored burglar system, I had dogs in the house, I had the best deadbolts in the world – I thought I was home-free,” she said. “I was guilty of complacency and because of that, I suffered a terrible loss.”
Blinkhorn said the four groups in the Grandview Heights area work together to strengthen the community and encourage residents to look out for each other, and the stewardship group maintains a website of resources that anyone can access (www.grandviewstewardship.org).
The Block Watch groups’ next meeting – a date yet to be set – will be open to anyone interested in learning more about Block Watch and how to contribute to the safety of their community.
To learn more about forming a Block Watch group in South Surrey, call 604-599-7862.