Eight teenagers are behind bars after being caught breaking into Omaha homes, thanks to alert neighbors.

If you think neighbors and Neighborhood Watch programs are not effective, there are eight juveniles booked into the Douglas County Youth Center that might tell you different.

Gus Palmer takes great pride in his community. For the last five years he has kept a watchful eye over his neighborhood through the Deer Park Neighborhood Association Citizens Patrol.

“A lot of people think the police are supposed to solve everything. Well, we as citizens have to take our stand too and help the police to do their job."

This week police didn't have to. Thanks to witness descriptions, police apprehended five juveniles regarding an alleged burglary at 52nd and Bauman. At 37th and Grand, it was an anonymous person who gave the description of three individuals breaking into houses.

Police say it was exactly the kind of information they need. “With both cases it has been either a victim or witness that has given a suspect description, a vehicle description the suspects flee the area with,” says Omaha Police Officer Andrew Passo.

“Any type of information they give 911 dispatch that will then give arriving officers is a big help in apprehending the suspects.”

At the Deer Park Neighborhood Association, they are training members to be better neighbors. “To recognize people, to recognize something that is out of the ordinary.” Palmer also says sometimes being a good neighbor is as simple as picking up the phone.

“When something is not right, when you see a stranger doing something that is out of the ordinary, stalking a house, you call 911 and let the police handle it.”

They take safety seriously at Deer Park. The association recently invested $14,000 in eight new radios that allows them to connect with 911 dispatch, then get linked to a patrol officer in case of emergency.