Campbell foot patrols searching for neighborhood thieves

CAMPBELL

The Campbell Police Department is tackling an old-school problem with an equally old-school solution.

To combat the rash of thefts and break-ins that have plagued several of the city’s neighborhoods as of late, officers, dressed in ordinary clothes, are taking to the streets almost anytime the sun isn’t out.

And like the criminals they’re trying to stop, they’re on foot.

“Sometimes in police work, we look to technology to solve all of our problems — when, in fact, some criminals are simple,” said Drew Rauzan, the city’s police chief. “We cannot lose sight of the fact that simple solutions can solve simple problems.”

He said, too, that the problem of “derelicts walking around the city at night, checking for open car doors and whatever they can steal” is not unique to Campbell.

It’s also not limited to just one or two neighborhoods in the city.

“We have great neighborhoods with great people,” Rauzan explained, “and we have the same problems as every other community.”

In addition to providing a police presence in the area, a foot patrol netted a felony drug arrest and two disorderly conduct citations between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. July 30.

Read more about the patrols in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.