Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 3:53 a.m.
Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday and Sundays. Reach her at [email protected] or (702) 259-4082.
WEEKEND EDITION
February 12 - 13, 2005
Joyce and Jerry Streit were still hospitalized and recovering from an intruder's knife attack when the little blue security system signs started popping up around their neighborhood.
"Anyone you see with an ADT sign, just got it," said Danielle Ward, who lives five doors away from the Streit's northwest Las Vegas home.
Ward and her husband, who have three children ages 5 and younger, are among the nine new home-security system owners who live on Dawn Isle and Coconut Grove, two short streets near Westcliff and Buffalo drives.
Fear makes a powerful salesman.
Joyce Streit, 66, was outside her home at about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 3 when a stranger walked up and asked if someone named "Andy" lived there, Metro Police say. Streit said no, then went inside.
The man evidently then followed her into the house using a secondary door, or maybe a window, Metro Police Lt. Ted Snodgrass said.
Joyce Streit screamed, and the intruder stabbed her some 20 times. The assailant then stabbed 70-year-old Jerry Streit three times when Streit ran downstairs to help his wife.
The Streits were released from University Medical Center on Tuesday.
But the intruder got away, stealing the Streits' car keys and an entire neighborhood's sense of security. Few crimes erode the sense of personal security as being attacked by a stranger inside one's own home.
"We're all on alert," Ward said Thursday, one week after the attack. "We're a 'neighborhood watch' without being (an official) neighborhood watch."
Police are following leads, but Snodgrass didn't want to reveal more. He hoped residents would feel some comfort in knowing that the attack was a freak crime, even among robberies.
Most robberies -- about 45 percent -- are the street-type robberies or muggings.
"We have some home invasions, but not to this type of level," the lieutenant said. "Home invasions (in general) are rare. They're less than 2 percent of our total robberies.
"And in that neighborhood, they're like hen's teeth. It's a relatively safe area."
Snodgrass said it's good for people to be aware of what's going on in their neighborhoods. But he counseled against going "from being safe to being paranoid."
It's always good to acquaint yourself with the neighbors and keep an eye on what's normal in your neighborhood. That makes it easier to know when something's amiss.
Statistically, Snodgrass said, older residents and those for whom English is a second language are slightly more likely to be victims of crime. But fear shouldn't keep people from getting on with their daily lives or prevent them from pursuing what they enjoy.
"This is the time of year when you leave your garage door open and you do more outside to enjoy the weather," he said. "I have two garages. I raise rabbits in one of them, and that door is almost always open."
Still, Ward said her neighborhood feels a little different since the attack. It's quieter, and the kids from the apartment complex across the street aren't playing out in front as much. They're staying closer to home.
"We're not scared, really," Ward said. "We're just more aware."
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