Neighbors Install Security Cameras After Recent Rapes

(Feb 22, 2009)

ORLANDO -- A rash of recent home invasions across Central Florida has everyone double-checking their locks and keeping a close eye out for anything suspicious.

Two women have been raped in two of the five invasions in Orange and Seminole counties, all in the last week alone, but some neighborhoods are not sitting back and waiting to become victims.

Anyone leaving or coming into the Hamptons subdivision in the Metro West area will soon be captured on security camera.

The gated, upscale community is home to the latest home invasion in Central Florida, the fifth one in the last week, and the second invasion during which a woman was raped.

Neighbors like Paige Politte said it is not going to happen again.

"If people know we're going to have security cameras out front, it's going to hopefully keep them out of the neighborhood, but if someone does come in for some criminal activity, we're going to be able to record license plate numbers of who goes in and who goes out," Politte said.

Orange County sheriff's officials said some of the home invasions are drug related, but five in one week could be a sign of the times.

"There is a lot of data that says when socioeconomic times get bad, the crime goes up," said Jeff Williamson, with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Officials said the home invasions do not appear to be linked, and there is no telling when or where the next one will be. That is why officials said you have to keep yourself and your home protected -- and that does not always mean expensive equipment.

Sometimes, Williamson said, you just need to be aware of your surroundings.

"If you see anything -- any suspicious activity or person who looks out of place -- please call us," Williamson said.

The homeowners association installing the security system said it expected to pay a couple hundred dollars more a year for the high-tech digital cameras.