A CONCERTED effort between the police and residents of Glencoe, Westmoorings and surrounding areas has been initiated in an attempt to rid those areas of criminals and criminal activities.

This is according to Congress of the People (COP) member Rocky Garcia, whose home was broken into two weeks ago and his family robbed.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Garcia said the initiative was not aimed at focusing solely on the incident that took place at his residence, but also several other incidents where a number of families had been robbed after their homes were also broken into.

"This is really a crime initiative, a community effort between members of the community and the police. We would work together with the police and assist in whatever way we could.

"Maybe we could provide some extra vehicles in order to have more ground patrols and so on because the police may also be working under some restrictions. Also, let me make it clear that our effort is not stable and based on any one particular incident," said Garcia.

Police reported that over the past several weeks there had been an increase in house break-ins and robberies in the area, with most of those cases being blamed on a single individual who escaped from prison several weeks ago.

Officers said they are aware of the suspect's identity and they have been working around the clock to apprehend him, but so far he has been able to elude capture.

On the night of October 16, Garcia's Glencoe home was broken into by a man who entered the building through a window. His wife and daughter were held up at knife-point and robbed of cash, cellphones and jewelry before the suspect escaped.

Garcia said, in addition to the collaborative effort between the police and residents, Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the suspect.

An official at Crime Stoppers said the reward was $10,000.