Residents voice concerns about crime in Waterbury

WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) -- Neighbors are seeing more police patrols these days because people living in the Overlook section went to City Hall with concerns about their safety.

The latest mugging was just this past Tuesday on Yates Avenue. A man with a gun attacked a woman just walking from her car to her house.

"Knocked her to the ground, started beating her. She started screaming, her husband came out and started chasing him," Mr. Meyer of Waterbury said.

But that mugger got away. That kind of crime is very rare in Waterbury's historic Overlook district and there was another mugging in the same area just a couple weeks earlier to a man and wife walking home from synagogue.

"They were approached by what we think is the same man with his gun and he robbed them," Michael Salvio of the Historic Overlook Community Club.

Now, two muggings in two weeks might not be that bad for some parts of Waterbury, but Overlook is different. Those community leaders got together with the police chief and the Mayor last night to talk about how to work together to make sure things like this don't happen again.

"In response to these cases, we've increased police presence in the neighborhood, both uniformed and plain clothed officers and we will continue to do so until we solve these crimes," Capt. Chris Corbett of the Waterbury Police Dept. said.

Six months ago, they started a neighborhood crime watch in response to another crime spree, but it's not fully active yet.

"There are some streets that are not up and running yet, and unfortunately the two incidents were on those streets," Salvio said.

"My wife was coming home from shopping just last night and she called me and she said can you please come outside and watch me come inside," Mr. Meyer said.

Increased police presence should help calm those nerves, and the city is also talking with residents about putting in more streetlights.