Posted: 8:32 PM Jun 21, 2012
Reporter: Karen Campbell

People who live in the northeast section of Harrisonburg came together Thursday to talk about ways to make their community safer.

The Northeast Neighborhood Association held their monthly meeting, inviting Harrisonburg Police Chief
Stephen Monticelli.

Some expressed concerns about gang activity and the need for more officers to patrol the area.

Chief Monticelli says his goal is to have beat officers assigned to specific areas in the future.

He also has plans for officers to communicate more with neighbors and business owners to find out the root of problems.

"A lot of times police officers think, it's the crime, it's the major events that bothers people. A lot of times it's not. It's nuisance type crimes, like graffiti or people speeding through the neighborhood. The officers would be assigned to find those initial problems and then deal with those problems," said Monticelli.

Monticelli says it will take some time to assign beat officers to specific areas.

In the meantime, he encourages neighbors to call police if they see something or hear anything that seems unusual in their neighborhood.

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