A generations-old community in North Warren County took a stand Thursday night, saying residents will do what it takes to stop a rash of crimes.

“This will help us be more aware of what’s going on instead of staying in our little shell,” said Lois Martin, a 38-year resident of Redwood Road whose daughter on the same road reported a burglary about three weeks ago. “There are so many bold things that are happening.”

About 35 residents of Oak Ridge and Redwood roads, Mississippi 3 and U.S. 61 North communities met at Redwood United Methodist Church Thursday with Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace to establish a Neighborhood Watch program and get tips on fighting crime.

“I’ve lived in Redwood for 55 years, and I’ve never seen it this bad. I’m not sure what’s got to be done, but something’s got to be done,” said 71-year-old Jeanie Hinson.

Hinson said a television was stolen from her home about two months ago.

“If I had been home, I wouldn’t have been robbed because I’m a hunter, and I know how to use a gun,” she said.

“I’m very excited that the community is coming together to form a Neighborhood Watch,” Pace said.

Pace said similar programs have been established at Eagle Lake and at Openwood and Greenbriar subdivisions.

In the Redwood community, five auto burglaries and three residential burglaries were reported in the last three months, and Pace said reports of thefts have gone up throughout the county.

“We’ve had a rash of thefts and the majority of it has been auto burglaries,” he said, though he had no countywide numbers available.

In early August, two Vicksburg teens were charged with 12 auto burglaries in South Warren County and five auto burglaries and a home burglary in the city a month earlier.

Some residents meeting Thursday said they believe drug activity is the main cause of the break-ins.

“We thought it might be the crystal meth(amphetamine) in the area,” said Kathy Conrad, Oak Ridge Road resident whose car was recently burglarized. “My big concern is safety. The elderly people are afraid they won’t be able to defend their homes.”

Pace agreed that the majority of thefts are committed by substance abusers, though he said reports of crystal meth use in the county are down. He offered no numbers.

Lifelong Oak Ridge Road resident Dottie Lee volunteered to be a block captain.

“As a block captain, I share information with people in my area,” said Lee, who reported more than $10,000 in personal property missing in a break-in four years ago. “If there’s suspicious activity, they can contact me. We work like a team.”

She said the neighborhood meeting allowed neighbors to meet and collect phone numbers.

“Already, we’ve been watching for one another,” she said.

The community enlisted three more block captains to lead their neighborhoods to help the sheriff’s office, which has five uniformed officers each shift to patrol the 618-square-mile county, contrasting with about seven police officers each shift for Vicksburg’s 33 square miles.

Pace also advised residents to keep an inventory of personal property, including serial numbers, make and model.

Thursday’s meeting was a mirror of those in the past three months in the city neighborhoods of Fostoria, which encompasses Drummond, Cherry, Harris and Bowmar, and Enchanted Hills, a subdivision between Porters Chapel Road and Wisconsin Avenue.

Since forming Neighborhood Watches, the areas have seen crimes fall substantially and at least four arrests believed linked to the break-ins.

Pace said arrests in the past two weeks are believed to have solved auto burglaries on Boy Scout Road and home burglaries on Gibson Road Valley of the Moon.