Beverly Hills—Neighborhoods in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and Brentwood are dominated by luxurious homes with architectural touches. From the outsider’s view, these houses seem well protected by walls, gates or dense plantings; security cameras are watching the gate 24 hours.
Surprisingly, despite all of these protective measures, burglars are highly interested in these isolated and private areas.
According to police reports, at least two bands of burglars have occurred in the 150 hillside and canyon residences, and have also caused approximately $20 million worth of property stolen.
Some of the well known celebrities were also listed among the victims such as former Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing and her Oscar-winning director husband, William Friedkin; Clippers basketball star Cuttino Mobley; and country music stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
“It is hard to realize that your own hometown is exposed to certain crime. However, this is a very important moment for our neighbors to protect their own homes and look after one another’s homes as well.” Robin Greenberg, president of the Roscomare Valley Assn. in Bel-Air, said.
These areas are engaged in a lot of home improvement processes such as construction and remodeling; therefore, many vehicles for gardeners and carpenters, as well as pickup trucks are passing through the neighborhoods. For this reason, difficulties arise for security companies and police to distinguish the burglars from the workers since they can easily be disguised as these workers.
This summer, Bel-Air neighbors are collecting donations to purchase security instruments for streets and corners in order to read the license plates on cars throughout their town. Also, they are asked to report any odd movement of strangers to either their security companies or police.
Now more than ever, the residents in the rich neighborhoods are concerned. No matter how reliable the private security systems, the residents are now facing the time when they really need to upgrade the security system as a community.
