Neighborhood concerned after recent string of murders

May 27, 2011

a string of homicides in the international district are causing concern among residents. they met tonight to discuss what police are calling a "flare-up" in crime. heather mills was at that meeting and she's live where it happened -- to tell us why officers say it's up to the neighbors to help solve the problem. about four dozen people packed into the cesar chavez community center.. some worried that their neighborhood is going back to the way it was before shedding it's undesirable image. "hookers come off central into my neighborhood. knock on every single mans doors trying to get a date. if he's fool enough to let um in, then they steal everything." neighbors tell me they see crime happen in their neighborhood all the time.. they say it's on the rise again. but statistics from the district attorney's office tell a different story. felony gang cases and narcotics problems have been relatively consistent since 2009. and a-p-d says reported crime in the international district dropped more than 50 percent from 2000 to 2007. but the key word is "reported".. "i think it's not all on apd and it shouldn't be all on apd. it should be on all of us." "the police are going to be as present as we want them to be." joanne alandry says residents need to be held accountable. she says tonight's meeting was a call-to-action. "we are are a borderline community of where we want to be." commander murray conrad has been working the international district for more than three decades.. he says crime has decreased significantly since the 80's and 90's. it kills me when people say, like i said earlier, "we dont want to go back to what we were". when you hear that, automatically all those bad monikers come flying up. we're the international district." bottom line is that crime has decreased significiantly in this area.. but in order to continue on that trend .. police say e folks here need to help too