San Jose residents take action against rising crime

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Residents in the Almaden Valley neighborhood in San Jose are taking action after a troubling crime spree. More than 200 burglaries have occurred in just the past three months.

Neighbors are stunned over the recent wave of burglaries, saying it's a quiet, peaceful neighborhood, which is described as an Almaden Valley is an affluent upper-middle-class neighborhood of about 37,000 in the southeastern portion of San Jose. But some say the area has also changed.

Kim Korstad, an Almaden Valley resident says, "It's a completely different feeling now than it has been in the past 20-plus years."

Korstad and her husband, Charles, say it's just not safe anymore.

Crime in this part of town has more than doubled just compared to the same time period last year.

"A lot of these cases are solved with a collaborate effort," said Officer Albert Morales with the San Jose Police Department. He says a detective has been working to follow up on leads, but at this point, it is still hard to pinpoint why burglars are targeting this area.

But police say people can take simple steps to protect their homes.

"Lock your windows or doors. Alarm systems obviously help. Large animals typically scare away potential burglars," said Morales.

The Korstads say they have done all of that and more. They recently started taking steps to start a neighborhood watch program. Charles also installed a brand new 8 camrera security surveillance system.

"Anytime someone comes to the front door, we look first on the camera to see who is there," he explained.

Just down the street, Jahan Jahansooz said, "We have to look out for each other. At the end of the day, we want to have faith and trust in people, but unfortunately, at this period in time, people are taking advantage of others."

They want to send a simple message to those who may be causing trouble.

"The police will get you, and the more vigilant and aware that neighbors become, that will happen," said Kim Korstad.