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As economy dives, crime fears spike

By Lisa Respers France
CNN.com

MIAMI, Fla. — In times past, Jerry Borbon would not have thought twice about the backpack-wearing young man he spotted strolling down a street in his Miami, Florida, community.

But times have changed. Now he’s learning to trust his suspicions more.

A neighbor saw the man trying to break into a house and called police.

“There was nobody at home at the house,” Borbon said. "[The alleged thief] didn’t know that a neighbor was watching from her window.”

Borbon is a Citizens’ Crime Watch volunteer for his Westchester neighborhood in south Miami, where residents have been trained to be alert to suspicious behavior and report it promptly to police.

With the economic downturn, neighborhood watch groups are proving to be a first line of defense in battling property crimes.

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