ED & LH Q&A: Darren Dattalo

Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association

Crime watch coordinator Darren Dattalo of the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association discusses his group and crime in the area.

Have there been any major crimes or incidents in the area recently?

A major domestic violence situation occurred at the corner of Belmont and Skillman, across from the fire station. A man abducted a woman he had had a romantic relationship with from a convenience store. He brought her back to his apartment and when she tried to escape, he fired shots at her. Police arrived and the woman managed to escape alive and was rushed to the hospital. A standoff occurred with police, which lasted a couple of hours. When police finally entered the residence, the suspect had shot himself.This bothers me greatly because I often see lesser incidents of domestic violence in the neighborhood. I often fear they’ll escalate, the same reason police are more concerned about these calls than any other. It happens at all income levels, not isolated to any particular group or area. What are some more regular concerns of residents?

Our most regular concern is car breakins. This is a problem throughout the city. But with our adjacency to a long strip of commercial businesses on Greenville, we see a lot more of it than some other neighborhoods in East Dallas. The parking lots on Greenville are a frequent target, but so are cars in the nearby neighborhood. The majority of these incidents happen when people park on the street, but a handful happen in driveways. I am often a broken record when it comes to begging people not to park on the street. Also of concern is the rapid rise in new home construction. We always see an increase in crime when builders are active. The presence of unsecured premises is a major attraction to criminals. They know tools and building supplies are almost always left on these job sites and are available for easy pickings. These guys don’t always stop at the new construction; they sometimes hit the occupied homes as well.

What’s your advice regarding neighborhood crime?

Know your neighbors — their names, phone numbers and email addresses. Know their cars, schedules, work, vacation, etc. When you know your neighbors, you know what is out of place and when to do something about it. Second, don’t park on the street. Break-ins and auto thefts are on the street about 80 percent of the time or more. Just pulling in the driveway reduces your risk of being a victim substantially. Third, Lock-Take-Hide — so simple but so effective. We have seen criminals walking down the street looking into cars for valuables. If they don’t see anything, they move on. But when you leave a laptop, purse, GPS unit, or radar detector sitting in plain view, it’s going to get stolen. Even leaving the wires to those devices in view tells them there’s probably something worth taking inside. Why is a neighborhood watch so important?

Information. Our crime watch mostly consists of an email newsletter describing every crime incident in the area each month. When people know what’s happening, they take precautions. Just getting the word out gets people to change their behavior. How can residents get involved?

Find out who your neighborhood association or crime watch is and get on their list. Create a contact sheet for your immediate neighbors so that you have all their contact info. Let your crime watch or neighborhood association know if you see something out of order. My number one rule is to always be a good neighbor. Form relationships with the people around you. Have them for dinner, have a beer on the porch, whatever. Just get to know them well. When you care about people, doing the right thing is just instinct.If there isn’t a crime watch in your area, start one! It’s not very hard. I work with a volunteer organization called Crime Watch Executive Board of Dallas, which helps new crime watches get started. We have a mentoring program designed to help create new crime watch leaders throughout the city.

Sean Cha n is a freelance writer and author of “Raising the Stakes”, obtainable at raisingthestakesbook.com. If you have been a recent crime victim, email crime@advocatemag.com.