Despite a strong Neighborhood Watch Program and regular police patrols, Mike Hinchcliff’s upscale Brentwood neighborhood was still experiencing a handful of major crimes annually. So, he banded together with fellow neighbors to add a third element of crime prevention.

After installing a neighborhood video surveillance system in spring 2013, the Sterling Preserve subdivision at the corner of Lone Tree Way and O’Hara Avenue has gone 16 months without any vehicle thefts, home burglaries or other major criminal incidents.

Before the cameras were set up, there was a five-year stretch from 2008 to 2013 with three to five home burglaries reported each year among these 100 executive-style homes, Hinchcliff noted.

"They would come in waves, with three in a few days consecutively," he said. "Regardless of what we tried, we kept getting hit with these burglaries. We needed something to raise the risk level to the bad guys of coming in here."

Noting Sterling Preserve’s success in thwarting crime, other Brentwood neighborhoods are now in the process of acquiring similar video surveillance systems.

Hinchcliff said each household donated $100 each to purchase the cameras and 18 to 20 signs that are posted throughout the neighborhood and its park.

"This isn’t about catching people in the act. It is about being a deterrent," Hinchcliff said. Hinchcliff’s efforts have inspired Brentwood resident Peggy Wheaton to bring cameras to her Los Ranchos subdivision off O’Hara.