BATON ROUGE - On the Dec. 10 ballot, residents living in Sherwood Forest will vote on its crime district renewal fee. Neighborhood cameras and license plate readers were purchased by the crime district and help Baton Rouge police solve crimes.

Ed Greene lives in Sherwood Forest and is a recent victim of theft. While he was out one morning he says someone came to his house and stole a trailer sitting in his driveway. Greene says the thief walked up to his door, knocked to make sure no one was home, then backed into the driveway and hitched up the trailer.

Typically, Greene says he keeps his belongings secure but ran out for a few minutes that day. By the time he got back, it was too late.

"I must have missed him by about 15 minutes," he said.

There are cameras and license plate readers at all 16 neighborhood entrances in Sherwood Forest. That technology is connected to the Real Time Crime Center at BRPD Headquarters. There, investigators can use incoming technology to solve a crime.

There are also surveillance cameras around Green's house. The cameras captured the thief walking around the house and taking the trailer. A neighbor's camera captured the truck and trailer driving by moments later. With the cameras and citizen help through the Connect Blue Program, police can piece together homeowner camera footage to solve crimes. In this case, Kelvin Key, who has a criminal history, was booked for theft of a motor vehicle.

Similar technology is coming to Tara, a neighborhood that already has an established crime district and cameras at the neighborhood entrances. Once that technology is available, the neighborhood will be connected to the Real Time Crime Center.

Voters will decide on a $25 increase for the Sherwood Forest Crime District renewal. The increase in parcel fee will be from $75 to $100 and account for an increase in hourly security patrol fee and technology operating costs.