In the community of Talmadge, long-time residents like Kelly Waggonner are noticing a trend.
"Well, we're seeing more residential burglaries, car break-ins," Waggonner said.
One house, she says, has been broken into several times over the past few weeks. And the neighborhood's not alone.
After nearly a decade of decreasing numbers, property crimes are now up, for the second straight year.
"The biggest change is that we saw declines for so many years in a row. And that's why this is such a change," said Cynthia Burke, Director Research at SANDAG.
Burke said the good news is violent crime is down so far this year, but that may partly explain why property crimes are up.
"Law enforcement has limited amounts of resources. I think they're targeting where they're supposed to, the violent criminals,” she said. “ If they have to make a choice between violent crime and property crimes, we want them to go after the violent criminals."
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Burke said San Diego has fewer officers per person than most large cities leaving part of the responsibility on the people.
In Talmadge, more than 30 people volunteers patrol the neighborhood. They've purchased a vehicle, and email out crime updates to about 800 people almost daily.
And despite the recent spike, Kelly Waggonner says there's proof this program really does work.
"We've been able to decrease crime in Talmadge by approximately 50% accross all categories in the past five years," she said.
And that, she's pretty sure is much appreciated.
"I hope so. I hope so,” she said laughing and adding, “we've had three arrests this week because of neighbors with watchful eyes."
As for the one crime law enforcement is seeing more of, SANDAG says it's larceny, more specifically items being stolen out of vehicles.
So, the suggestion is simple, lock your doors, roll up your windows, and keep valuables out of sight.
