It has been two months since the city of Meridian hosted a big crime summit and officials say they continue to see the results, and they are good.

According to officials with the Meridian Police Department, crime numbers have significantly dropped in some categories. They say the greatest reductions are in the areas where there are active Neighborhood Watch groups.

"If you watch the news, it can make you afraid to go outside," said Nancee Greer, co-chair of the Highland Neighborhood Watch.

Greer said she and others in the area are no longer afraid to go outside and it's thanks to the Neighborhood Watch.

When the group started almost five years ago, Greer says says turnout for the first meeting was overwhelming.

"We thought 15 people. The next thing we knew, there were more than 60 people there that night," said Greer.

The Neighborhood Watch group at Highland is still going strong and having a major impact.

"We have shut drug houses down,"Greer said.
"Those people don't rent here any more. Those drug houses have been moved."

"We do get more calls, like in those areas," said Capt. Wade Johnson, Neighborhood Watch coordinator. "The good thing about the calls is that they're descriptive. They give us the information that we need to work on and that's because of constant contact with us through monthly meetings."

"We've learned how to recognize who should be there and who should not be there," said Greer. "You know, there is a curfew on school children. They should not be wandering the streets during the day. So, we've learned how to take charge of that."

Throughout the city there are, literally, signs of residents taking action. For example, check out this sign, which tells criminals, 'We're watching!' It's one of many such signs that we found lining the streets in the mid-town area.

"They're effective and they're a part of the solution, simply because, not only are they trained to recognize different behaviors in their own neighborhood, but when they're out shopping out and about in the community they also can report that to us, too," Johnson said.

The Neighborhood Watch in Highland meets the third Thursday of each month at Highland Baptist Church.

MPD statistics show that residential and commercial burglaries decreased by more than half in December 2011, compared to December 2010. Auto thefts were down by almost half.

The increases were in auto burglaries and robberies, which more than tripled.