17/01/2011 Mexico City. Given the insecurity that has not diminished in their community, residents of San Ángel promote a shared system of private security cameras that they can monitor via the internet.
"It's about being supportive among neighbors, sharing information and taking care of each other. All this was born because in the last 3 months 40 criminal incidents have been reported throughout the area of San Ángel, San Ángel Inn and Tlacopac.
"There are streets that, in a block of 12 houses, in 10 have stolen or tried to steal," explained Carlos Velasco, president of the Tlacopac Citizen Committee.
The inhabitants of San Ángel, Tlacopac and San Ángel Inn -in the Álvaro Obregón delegation- decided to promote the program "I take care of myself and I take care of my neighbor", which consists of reorienting the vision of their cameras to have a better perspective of other residences and connect through the network.
If a local sees suspicious people in a neighbor's house immediately reports it or calls the police, that way the residents of the place are trying to face the crime wave that has been registered.
"It is an important initiative of the neighbors, it is focused on protecting us; this also helps the authorities, but basically it is for us.
"There has been an increase in home burglaries, in my house it happened and in my neighbor's as well and that led us to make this determination to share the camera monitoring system," said Cesáreo Corral, a resident of the area.
The goal of the members of the Tlacopac Citizen Committee is that up to 50 percent of the residents of the area are linked to the camera system via the Internet.
Velasco reported that they are also recommending that the inhabitants of the place install alarms, in addition to hiring armed auxiliary police to monitor the area and maintain constant meetings with authorities of the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District (SSP-DF).
"The difference of this is the concept, instead of expanding my camera system just for me, I expand it for my neighbors and I am attentive to their safety and they are aware of mine," said Samuel González, a neighbor of the place.
The inhabitants of the place showed how they can monitor from different homes the movements of vehicles, gas delivery and even strange people who touch in the houses.
The way criminals operate in that area is to reach the houses, mainly on weekends, in vehicles of recent model, touch in the residences, in case the owners are not there, destroy the locks and steal various valuables.
The continuous robberies of residences in the area have also caused some to change their wooden gates for others of metal or to reinforce their lock systems, and also that some increase the height of their perimeter walls.
They support the PGJDF
In November 2010, the residents of San Ángel, Tlacopac and San Ángel Inn collaborated with the PGJDF to locate and arrest four people from Colombia, dedicated to the robbery of a house.
Alexander García Mendoza, Jhon Fredy Taba Valencia, Wilder Javier Prada and Ericka Rojas Cubillas have charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated robbery in degree of attempt, so they will be tried by Judge 28 Criminal, under criminal case 289/10.
In a complaint filed by those affected and witnesses of the facts, the license plate number of the car in which the alleged assailants had escaped and were arrested was identified.
Source: terra.com.mx
