New unit showing big results in cutting crime in Duluth

A Gwinnett County police department is crediting a new unit for the drastic drop in neighborhood crime.

Duluth police told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh at first they tried saturating patrols and had officers work overtime.

When that didn't work they formed a new unit.

They're on the streets of Duluth every day targeting neighborhood crime. But you'll never know it.

"Criminals will often times see police officers on the street in uniforms and they think we'll let me go somewhere else. But, if that officer leaves and go somewhere then they may come back," Maj. Don Woodruff of the Duluth Police Department said.

The city formed the undercover unit of four at the end of 2010 to fight a rise in home burglaries and car break-ins.

They said the statistics show its success.

By the end of 2011 the city said burglaries were down 37 percent, entering automobiles was down 24 percent, vehicle thefts were down 43 percent and larceny was down 16 percent.

"They're out here looking and probing looking behind the bushes, turning over the rocks and looking for crime," Woodruff said.

Residents appreciate the extra effort.

"I travel a lot for work. So it's really encouraging to tell me wife just for peace of mind that we're doubly taken care of," resident Davis Scott said.

Scott and neighbor Robert Little in the Norman Circle neighborhood. Both told Kavanaugh they have been victims of crime.

"It was in the middle of the night ," Little said.

He said a couple of years ago burglars broke into his home while he and his wife were sleeping.

"They got my wife's purse and everything," Little said. "It turned our life upside-down."

Both neighbors said they realize no neighborhood is 100 percent safe anymore. So they are glad to know the extra sets of eyes and ears are out there.

"You can't insulate yourself from everything, but it's great to know that the town is doing what they can," Scott said.

The unit has had so much success, the Duluth Police Department has committed to adding two more officers to the unit this year.