Neighborhood using Facebook to fight crime

FLINT (WJRT) -- (04/16/09)--Fighting crime using Facebook. It may not seem like the most likely combination, but it appears to be working for residents in one Flint neighborhood.

It's happening in the Mott Park neighborhood.

A group was created about a month ago. Community involvement is really what the creator wanted to establish, a connection. And Facebook seems to be the right one for dozens right now.

Forget the phone tree ...

"We have Facebook," said Mott Park resident Susan Burhans. "We can reach everyone very quickly."

Burhans created her group on the free social networking site about a month ago, an addition to the blog that's been up for months.

Journalism student Jessica Mora also lives in the Mott Park neighborhood.

"We had a fire," she said.

She blogs about it, most recently about that fire.

"Since I live 5 feet from there I grabbed my dog, grabbed my camera," she said.

Mora is also a member of the Facebook group. She posts there, too.

"Right now it's pretty much about break-ins," she said.

"We've had a couple of issues," Burhans said.

Suspect and vehicle descriptions have been put up on the page. And as Burhans typed, there was an arrest recently.

Ken Ehlears didn't know about the group until we told him about it.

"I think it's a great idea," he said. "Now that I know they have one set up for this area I'll definitely be checking it out."

We found a group for Carriage Town, too, but we were unable to reach the person who created it.

The Mott Park group continues to grow. It has 46 members.

You do have to be a Facebook member to access it.

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local, lori dougovito

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