The statistics, the police officer said, stood out for a residential area such as Thunder Hill.
"The calls for service shouldn't be that way," said Howard County Police officer Bonita Linkins, a community resource officer. She called the 11 cases of breaking and entering this year a "red flag."
"Your neighborhood is hot," she told a meeting of more than 150 residents Tuesday, Aug. 30. "But it's not like you guys need to move or hunker down."
Residents came to the meeting at Thunder Hill Elementary School not just to hear from the police about what was going on in their neighborhood, but also to tell officials what the residents were seeing and hearing and what they wanted done about it.
For the residents of this neighborhood in the village of Oakland Mills, the session represented a start in their fight against crime.
LaTonya Hendricks, who helped organize the meeting, said she and another resident had spoken to other residents "who were fed up with things in the community." By bringing people together with representatives of the village community association and county government, important information could be exchanged.
"I wanted to have a forum," Hendricks said after the meeting, with sessions like this on a regular basis.
One resident said Tuesday that there had been several break-ins on her street in the past two months. Several people raised their hands when asked if their homes or cars had been broken into. Others raised their hands to say they had been victims of vandalism or disorderly conduct.
From Jan. 1 to Aug. 29, there were 13 abandoned vehicles in Thunder Hill, which Linkins called "a lot." Among the other statistics: eight assaults, seven of which were domestic-related and the other a dispute between neighbors; three drug violations; three cases of destruction of property; six thefts; two cases of tampering with vehicles; one stolen car; and eight thefts from vehicles.
Just a day before the meeting there had been an assault and robbery nearby, Linkins said. Five juveniles were arrested.
She said officers are patrolling the neighborhood on foot.
"That's kind of odd to find in a residential area," she said. "We usually do our foot patrols in a village center or at grocery stores."
Other police officers would be driving around with special equipment to scan vehicles in the area to ensure that they were not stolen or did not have expired tags, she added.
Linkins asked residents to be vigilant and not to shy away from calling police if they see something or somebody suspicious. She advised them on how to prevent being victims of crimes, which she said are often crimes of opportunity. People should keep outside lights on at night, she said, not leave valuables in their vehicles and make sure that newspapers or advertisements do not pile up outside and hint that the residents are away on vacation.
Neighborhood Watch groups, with police officers training residents, are also an option, said Sandy Cederbaum, the Oakland Mills village manager.
"You're going to know what to look for," Cederbaum said. "You're going to know who your neighbors are and what their phone numbers are."
With so many area residents away from home to talk about crime, one man wondered if the police were on patrol nearby, watching the neighborhood at that very moment.
"Yeah," Linkins said, "they are."