by Mark Bellinger
COLUMBIA, Tenn.- Homeowners on the east side of Columbia in Maury County have banded together to help cut the crime in their neighborhood by half.
College Hill is one of Maury County's oldest neighborhoods. 73-year-old Annie Hardison grew up there, so did 84-year-old Ella Matthews. Both remember the old neighborhood.
"It's wonderful to be able to sit out here," said Hardison
"I mean everything was filled, all houses were filled. It was a beautiful place to live," said Matthews.
But something happened to the old neighborhood. People started moving away and criminals moved in.
"There was a time when I'd be lying in there in the bed and I'd hear gunshots and I'd see that I'm okay and I'd roll on over and go back to sleep. That's the truth," said Hardison
Hardison and her neighbors started a neighborhood watch group and with the help of police and an organization called People Helping People Together began cleaning up the streets, literally.
"People Helping People have come in and helped the elderly people who had leaky roofs, and no heat and no heaters and assisted them with one third match money for anything that they needed in the home," said Hardison.
That kind of help and a renewed effort by police to proactively patrol the streets cut crime in three years here by a whopping 47%. What has happened in this neighborhood is not an accident. Police said picking up trash and fixing homes goes hand in hand with reducing crime.
To Columbia Police College Hill is known as Zone 1. Captain Mickey Jones said criminals now think twice before entering College Hill.
"These people that offend, they see that there are people who care about their community and if they fix this broken window or picked up this piece of trash or whatever the situation might be they realize those people are going to call police, and that's what has happened," said Jones.
People Helping People was so impressed with Hardison's work they placed her on their board of directors.
"I just wish you could just know the difference in the pride people are taking in their community now that we've claimed it back. You ought to see the flowers out here when the spring time comes. It was not like that," said Hardison.
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