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‘I don’t feel safe in my own home’ military wives concerned after incidents in housing community

Posted at 9:06 PM, Dec 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-12-19 14:50:13-05

NORFOLK, Va. - The homes in Norfolk Crossing are ready for the holidays.

It's a military housing neighborhood where many families will be celebrating without their spouses as they are on deployment.

It's a tough time that has recently become a concern for some neighbors.

"I don't feel safe in my own home, that's not fair," says Cassidy Gregoire.

Gregoire says earlier this month, she had an incident where she heard someone at her screen door trying to get in.

She says her dog got to the door first and she called 9-1-1.

The incident happened around the same time that Bianca Clark says she moved in down the street, and had a similar scare her first night alone.

"I saw my backdoor handle turn and I'm looking right at it I just froze, I couldn't do anything besides pick my phone up and call police," she says. "You would think that you would be 100 percent safe."

A few days later, Savannah Montoya says she came face-to-face with a strange man in her backyard who appeared to be walking out with her German Shepherd puppy.

"We're wives and we're mothers and we're here with our kids and our husbands aren't home," she says. "You would think, OK, these people are military, let's respect that they're military and fighting for our country, but no."

Lincoln Military did send out a letter with holiday safety tips.

It opened saying, "While crime and criminal activity within our military housing communities remains consistently less than conventional communities in the area, we have not been crime free."

News 3 reported earlier this week about another military housing neighborhood, and three nearby Norfolk neighborhoods, Bayview, Crossroads, and Ward's Corner, that have had close to 20 burglaries since Thanksgiving.

"It's just very scary and it's very real," says Gregoire.

News 3 reached out to Lincoln Military Housing about the security concerns. A spokesman says they do offer courtesy patrols to provide more eyes, but those patrols do not have law enforcement power.

He says just like any other housing, it is up to the residents to call local law enforcement if there is an issue.