DIP Area Fights Back Against Crime

People in the Highland Court and Brookley Heights area near Dauphin Island Parkway met Monday night to come up with a plan to stop rapes, robberies and deadly shootings.
They held their first meeting of the Highland Court/Brookley Heights Community Watch group.
Thelma Thrash, who lives in the Highland Court area, said, "Our main concern on Highland Court is those apartments."
Case in point, according to Thrash: a 14 year old killed at the Garden Park Estates Apartments in December of 2008 after he was accidentally shot in the head.
Thrash said, "Last year, from six months to a year, it was awful. You'd be afraid to leave home."
Then, this past April, on Delta Street and Greenwood Avenue, there was a drive-by shooting that left a man shot in the leg.
Monteen Lucky said she had just returned to her home on Greenwood Avenue when it happened.
Lucky said, "I was coming from the grocery store and I spoke to my neighbor across the street, and the next minute I heard 'Bang, Bang.' By the time I got out of my car with the groceries, this kid had fallen down on the ground."
Another person in the area tells of a shooting more recently.
Joe Richardson, who lives on Highland Court, said, "Two weeks ago, the jack came up missing from under my vehicle and they shot the dog right across the street. This is just a ride through, grab what you can, and ride back out."
About a dozen people attended the community watch meeting.
They heard from Mobile Police, who told them about recent successful efforts to fight crime in the area.
Police Captain Phillip McCrary said, "We stopped a burglary ring that was one of the biggest burglary rings we've ever had in the city. We cleared 83 burglaries throughout the city from these people that lived over there in Brookley Heights. Its a model that we follow. We scan what the problem is, we do an analysis, and then a response, and then we assess it later to see if we're doing a good job."