From the Fort Worth Star Telegram ~ Friday, March 17, 2006

ON LOOKOUT

Volunteers serve as an eye in the sky to keep car burglaries down in Grapevine

By Bill Teeter Star-Telegram Staff Writer

GRAPEVINE - Several times a week Dave Perry grabs a bottle of water and a snack, steps into the small compartment of the Sky Watch mobile observation tower, pushes a lever that raises it two stories above the pavement, and goes to work gazing across the vast expanse of the Grapevine Mills mall parking lot.

Most of the time the volunteer for the city's Police Department doesn't see much crime as he keeps watch through dark-tinted glass with a pair of binoculars. But if he does, he's got a radio link to nearby police.

Through the use of two mobile watch towers, police have dramatically reduced vehicle burglaries in Grapevine to 33 during the most recent Christmas holiday season, compared with 51 last season and 68 during the 2003 holiday season. The most telling statistic: No vehicle burglaries occurred at Grapevine Mills this Christmas season, Police Chief Eddie Salame said.

The first Sky Watch tower was bought in 2004; the second a year later. One tower is per-manently stationed at Grapevine Mills mall, while the other is moved to different areas, Salame said.

STAR-TELEGRAM/STEWART F. HOUSE

Volunteer Dave Perry of Grapevine sits in an observation tower to monitor the parking lot at Grapevine Mills mall Thursday. The tower is raised two stories above the pavement where Perry can see and report on suspicious activity.

The first year police manned the tower. But then volunteers took on the job, leaving police free for other tasks, police spokesman Bob Murphy said. About 20 residents now take turns scanning parking lots and streets in climate-controlled comfort.

The volunteers are equipped with a radio and a mobile telephone to contact police if they see trouble. Most are alumni of the Police Department's Citizens' Police Academy, which familiarizes residents with police operations, said Perry, a 63-year-old retiree. Perry's shifts last about a couple of hours. He recently called officers to check on a rowdy group outside a restaurant. "The less I see, the better I like it," he said. If no one is available to work the tower, it's sometimes raised anyway as a deterrent, Perry said.

The towers cost about $60,000 each, Murphy said. The first was purchased with money seized during drug stings. The City Council covered the cost of the second tower.

The Fort Worth Police Department has one tower and has ordered a second. The department often uses volunteers from the city's Citizens On Patrol volunteer group, Fort Worth police spokesman Lt. Dean Sullivan said.

Grapevine Mills mall manager Bob Cesare said the tower makes a difference. "It's just amazing what little crime we have," said Cesare, who has managed other malls.

Loryn Kelley, 17, who has worked at the Grapevine Mills mall for three years, said that when she first started there, vandalism was not unusual. Her car was keyed one day, she said. But she hasn't noticed problems recently. "I'm guessing it's working," she said.