Residents meet to discuss forming crime watch.

Only about 10 percent of reported crimes are resolved by a police officer walking in on them. The rest are reported by ordinary people who call the police when they see something wrong.

It's such statistics that make forming a neighborhood crime watch so vital in curbing crime, according to Allegheny County Deputy Sheriff Jason Tarap.

About 50 people came out Friday night for the initial meeting to begin forming a crime watch. The group included several Harrison residents who are part of Natrona Comes Together, a group trying to fight blight and crime in the neighboring township.

To try to gauge what the concerns are in the community, Tarap asked each person in attendance to name one complaint.

Complaints included drugs, speeding, littering, theft, attempted burglaries and slum landlords.

Brackenridge resident Dino Lopreiato said that in the past two years he's seen thefts and attempted break-ins .

"I heard they were having a meeting and I wanted to look and see what was going on and what I could do to help.

"You have to do something," said Lopreiato, who is co-owner of Vibo's Italian Bakery, a family business along Brackenridge Avenue. "You just try to make things better and not worse."

Patrolman Justin McIntyre, the borough's crime prevention officer, said the turnout was good.

"Better than I expected," McIntyre said.

The next step is to schedule another meeting.

"We're going to try to do a meeting once every month," McIntyre said.

Bill Godfrey, who helped organize Natrona Comes Together said he hopes that Harrison and Brackenridge working together can help "break the link in the chain."

"We're after the same thing: a healthy place to live," Godfrey said.

One of the problems facing communities trying to combat crime is that people assume reporting suspicious activity isn't their business, or they're worried they might offend someone.

"That's something we're trying to break down," Tarap said.

Neighbors need to be, as Tarap coined them, "nebby neighbors."

Tarap gave this scenario: You go on vacation and don't tell the neighbors. A neighbor notices a strange car park in front of the house and someone go inside and turn on the lights. If that neighbor calls the police and it turns out the stranger is a brother or sister just checking on things, "are you going to be mad at your nebby neighbor or are you going to be glad they were keeping an eye out?"

Tarap gave another example: A woman reported her home was burglarized three days after it happened because she said she didn't want to bother the police.

"You can call us any time of the day," Tarap said. "You're not going to bother us."

Another common concern is that the person who reports a crime might be a victim of retaliation.

"You can call us and still remain anonymous," Tarap said.