Neighborhood Watch Report

[Rana Goodman]

SCA Neighborhood Watch Program
Resident Update – April 30, 2023

Crime Report: Through April 2023, we have had only six burglaries or attempted burglaries, and no vehicle crimes. Hopefully, we are getting the reputation that SCA is not a good place to commit crimes. Criminal groups will certainly return and we need to be prepared. If you “See Something, Say Something” and call 311 for suspicious activity, or call 911 for a crime in progress or a threat to personal safety. Keep up the good work!

Secure Your Home for Summer Travel: An article on how to secure your home for summer travel is shown below. There are some good suggestions that will help keep your mind at ease when you’re away.

HPD Emergency Number if you are away: The HPD has a 10-digit emergency number 866-473-4911, which you can call if you observe an in-progress break-in to your property and want to have the HPD respond.\

Garage Door Remote Opener Security: The remote feature on our garage doors is great for convenience but it can offer burglars an opportunity to remotely open your garage door. There have been reports of vehicles “trolling” to see if they can open our garage doors. Here are steps you can take, as recommended by the Henderson Police Department:

• A good precaution to take at night or when you’re away from home is to use the “lock” button on the garage door opener control pad next to the door into your home. Press it until the light blinks. We believe all SCA homes have the “lock” feature. Note: Always deadbolt lock the door from your garage into your home when appropriate.

• If you don’t have a “lock” button, you can pull the electrical supply plug. This is certainly inconvenient but may be a good precaution if you will be away from home for quite a while.

• Newer garage door openers have a “rolling” signal that changes the code automatically with each use. The newer rolling style openers make it very difficult for the code to be hacked and opened by a passerby. If you have a “learn” button on your garage door operator, you have newer “rolling” code type opener. We believe all SCA homes have the “rolling codes” technology.

• Older garage doors may have “dip switches” to link up the remote and opener motor. We believe SCA homes do not have dip switches. If in doubt, look at your operation manual or Google “garage door dip switches” for your type of garage door open learn how reset them. Or ask your handyman to check if you have dip switches, and reset them if you do.

• If you see someone suspicious who may be “trolling” to try to open garage doors, call 311 with the description of the vehicle, especially the license plate number. A video or photo is especially helpful.

ALPR camera project: The Anthem Council is considering taking over this project so that it can cover all six communities in the Anthem Council area. This is good news! Not only would we be able to cover more communities and increase the probability of capturing criminals on the ALPR cameras, but we would also be able to mount the cameras on light poles, which will reduce the project cost and improve coverage. Thank you, Anthem Council! For an understanding of the project, you can view the presentation to the Lifelong Learning Club at https://youtu.be/7p4q2KgyEOs .

Mailbox Thefts seem to be picking up again. PICK UP YOUR MAIL AS SOON AS IT IS DELIVERED! DON’T LEAVE IT OUT OVERNIGHT! In order to help solve these crimes, anyone who has a camera that covers a cluster mailbox should be sure to join the HPD CAPTURE program (Google “Henderson Police Department CAPTURE Program”). If you have camera that covers a cluster mailbox, send that information to: neighborhoodwatch@scacai.com We can then help the HPD and USPS is solving (and deterring) these crimes.

Reporting crimes: I check the HPD website daily for SCA crimes that have been reported to HPD. However, it sometimes takes a few days for the HPD to post crimes. If you are aware of a burglary or theft that occurs in SCA, please let me know as soon as possible. I can then issue a community-wide alert about the crime, if appropriate. Don.manning@cox.net

Safety Diamond: We hope you are encouraging your residents to fill out a “Safety Diamond” that shows contact information for their nearest neighbors. This can be especially important if you are away for an extended time. The Neighborhood Watch Program has special concerns about the safety and security of folks living alone. The “Safety Diamond” is shown below. Please ask your residents to fill it out, for their security and that of their neighbors.

Thanks for being “Neighbors Looking Out for Neighbors” and helping to keep Sun City Anthem safe!

Learn more home security tips on the SCA website at http://www.sca-hoa.org , under Community /

Neighborhood Watch.
Don Manning, Leader
Sun City Anthem Neighborhood Watch Program

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