HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The neighborhood watch sign may be faded but people that live in the Westchase and Countryway subdivisions say they keep a close eye out for suspicious activity.
"Crime has no boundaries as we all know,” said Karen Pingeton. She and several other neighbors have invested in security cameras.
Early Tuesday morning they were stunned at what they saw when they pulled up their footage from the night before.
They posted several different angles of the same group of people jumping out of the same vehicle checking car door handles.
"Now we have a community that’s on edge. It's never good to have a community on edge,” said Pingeton. "Someone is going to end up getting hurt."
She says it seems these people have no fear - one video shows a person just barely shielding his face when floodlights turn on in a driveway. In another video, you can see a car light up as someone opens the door. They then turn on a flashlight to search the car before they move on.
"Other than maybe putting a hoodie over their head they really don’t seem to be hiding their identity or fearful that there are cameras or someone’s gonna come out and see them or approach them,” Pingeton said.
She does hope more neighbors will get cameras.
"Is it going stop this criminal activity? No, but it may sway them a bit, especially when they learn that there are more people that have them on camera than don’t,” she said.
She says they have handed these videos over to Hillsborough County Deputies hoping they can figure out who they are. "They are going to get caught. Their time is running out,” she said.
If you have any information, please contact the Sheriff’s office on the non-emergency line at (813) 247-8200. If it's an emergency, dial 911.
