Va. Beach safety program for seniors may get cut

VIRGINIA BEACH

Police Officer Dolly Deans has 215 large-view peepholes, and she’s racing to install them in doors all over the city.

Her goal as senior coordinator for the Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit is to make the city’s senior citizens safer.

But her position may be eliminated as part of citywide budget cuts. Deans said she’s been told she’ll be moved elsewhere in the department in June unless the city finds funding to continue her programs.

Since 2002, Deans has installed about 1,200 of the peepholes through a program called Operation Lookout Expanded. The purpose is to help protect seniors from break-ins by doing a security assessment, providing basic safety training, and installing an oversized peephole and special emergency lighting. It’s free for residents older than 50.

On Thursday morning, Deans made her way through a two-story home with brick and siding in the Villages at West Neck. Armed with a bag of tools, she checked every entrance for security flaws, inspected smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, and placed a “no solicitors” decal on the front door. She also installed an adapter that makes the front porch light blink when the switch inside is flipped twice. In an emergency, it will alert neighbors and help police or paramedics locate the house.

She also affixed a new peephole in the front door and trained residents Tricia and Thomas Vitanza on how to use it.

“Say, ‘Who is it? What do you want?’” she told them. “If you’re home during the day, you want them to know.”

She left a list of recommendations: Put curtains on the garage door window so prospective burglars can’t see inside, hide the extra car keys, and pick up rocks in the backyard that could be used to break glass doors.

The visit was precautionary, Tricia Vitanza said.

“It’s a wonderful program for seniors,” the retired nurse said. “I think that I have a better idea of ways to make myself more secure.”

The program started as Operation Lookout in 2001, and it got a new name as the Crime Prevention Unit expanded its scope. It costs $2,200 to $2,500 a year, with 90 percent funded by a state grant and 10 percent funded by the city, Deans said.

But the program’s future is in jeopardy with six of eight crime-prevention positions on the chopping block, she said. Officer Jimmy Barnes, a police spokesman, confirmed the unit may shrink.

The city will release its proposal to meet a $41 million budget shortfall later this month, and the City Council will finalize the budget in May.

“It doesn’t look good, but we’re hoping that they’re going to come up with additional funds,” Deans said. “I’m just hoping that they can find the money.”

To sign up for a free security assessment through Operation Lookout Expanded, call police Officer Dolly Deans at (757) 385-1068. 

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com