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Jerry Fitzpatrick and Terry Bullock Business owners take aim at crime Industrial park tries Neighborhood Watch idea By DAVID PRESZLER Over the past two years, Jerry Fitzpatrick has grown accustomed to petty theft around his business. Fitzpatrick, manager at Lumber Products on Lars Way in Medford, has had the occasional tool or roll of insulation disappear. But when the front window to his office was smashed Jan. 2, annoyance turned to concern. "That's got me a little more uncomfortable," he says. So Fitzpatrick and Terry Bullock, manager at neighboring Menlo Logistics, which had also had a recent theft, fanned out to other businesses to see if they'd had similar problems. What they found was astounding: About 75 percent of the 40 or so business operators they talked to in the area -- an industrial park off Sage Road in northwest Medford tucked away from residential or high-traffic areas -- had been hit in the past year. And the criminals seemed to be getting braver. Bullock's business runs 24 hours, and that didn't stop someone from stealing a piece of trucking equipment two weeks ago. "They are getting so bold, it doesn't matter if we are here or not," says Bullock. "There's been a rash of thefts up and down the street here," Fitzpatrick says. "All this stuff is starting to add up. We figured, `Let's do something proactive about it."' Fitzpatrick and Bullock have invited managers from 53 businesses to a meeting today to discuss security and form a business watch program, similar to Neighborhood Watch. "The security measures we are taking aren't being effective, so we are going to see what we can do as a group," says Bullock. Bullock and Fitzpatrick say police are doing what they can but they can't be there all the time. Medford police officer Chris Kitto has been working with them and helped organize the meeting. "That part of the city is isolated," Kitto says. "I've been noticing in the last year that we've been having more problems. "We as a police department can't stop that by ourselves. We need to be able to work with the businesses to try and stop some of this. It's just out of control." Kitto plans to help educate businesses on little things they can do to protect themselves and then help brainstorm for other ideas. Fitzpatrick and Bullock have already compiled a list of businesses, including phone numbers for managers, which they plan to pass out at the meeting. The idea is that if one manager or employee sees something suspicious, he or she can call another. They may also consider starting a rotation where businesses would take turns having employees patrol the area or getting together to hire a private company. "We want to put these people on notice that we are watching them," says Bullock. Jeff Rodgers, general manager of Frozen Gourmet Inc., wasn't hard to sell on the idea of getting together to do something. Since moving onto Lars Way three years ago, his business -- a distributor of frozen food products such as Dreyer's and Ben & Jerry's ice creams -- has been hit four times. Rodgers says the early problems were minor: stereos stolen out of his delivery trucks and the like. But they didn't stay that way. In September 1997, thieves used the company's forklift to knock down an office wall, ransacked the office and ran through the large freezer. Then they hooked a chain around a floor safe and tried to pull it out. "All of a sudden, they are knocking the walls down," Rodgers says. Rodgers installed an alarm system and hasn't had any real problems since, but he isn't feeling secure. "I'm not stupid enough to think they aren't coming back," he says. Like Bullock and Fitzpatrick, Rodgers appreciates the efforts police have made. "I don't blame them in any way, shape or form," he says. "I just think we are in a rough neighborhood. They are running roughshod over us here." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA