Editorial: Security begins next door

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

It is not necessarily true that gated communities are any more protected from crime than regular subdivisions, as a couple living at Rhodes Ranch in southwest Las Vegas discovered last Saturday.

After spending nearly a month out of town, the couple returned home only to find that their front door had been kicked in and that $37,000 worth of their belongings, including a car, had been stolen.

A check with police by Las Vegas Sun reporters revealed that 13 other burglaries occurred in August within a one-mile radius of their home, and all were within the gates and walls enclosing Rhodes Ranch.

Rhodes Ranch is one of many gated communities in the Las Vegas area that has been hit with burglaries, despite guards at entrances, security patrols and cameras.

FBI spokeswoman Natalie Collins told the Sun that gate codes are disclosed to pizza delivery drivers and other nonresidents who frequently need access. "They (the gates) are a false sense of security," she said.

Even if the gates and walls were 100 percent effective, though, gated communities are home to thousands of people, some of whom may be burglars themselves.

No home can be completely secure, no matter what measures are taken. But the public safety committee of the Rhodes Ranch homeowners association is taking what in our view is the best precaution. Working with Metro Police, it is in the formative stages of starting a Neighborhood Watch program for the community. An organizing meeting is set for Sept. 14.

Whether formal, through homeowners associations and with Metro's guidance, or informal, with agreements among trusted neighbors, Neighborhood Watch programs are essential in this day when burglaries are almost common. For example, just within Metro's jurisdiction last year, its officers investigated 14,224 burglaries.

At the very least, neighbors should swap home, cell and work phone numbers with one another and be on the alert to call police and one another at any sign of a break-in.