“Oak Harbor Police Chief Tony Barge has some tips for preventing car prowls:* Lock vehicles and arm car alarms.* Don’t leave valuables in a car, especially anywhere in sight.* Park the car as close to the home as possible.* Get a watch dog.* Install motion lights.* Never hesitate to call 911 to report anything suspicious.* Remain watchful. Look out windows often, especially at night. Watch for slow-moving cars, people with flashlights or anything out of the ordinary.* Start a Block Watch program.An alarming spree of car prowls has the Oak Harbor Police Department on high alert.The problem is so bad that Police Chief Tony Barge is asking the community for help and urging residents to form Block Watch groups in their neighborhoods.There have been 36 reports of property stolen from cars overnight in residential neighborhoods since the beginning of the month, plus a half dozen more outside the city limits. On Valentine’s Day alone there were eight different reports of car break-ins.Barge said the thief or thieves have stolen stereo equipment, cellular phones, credit cards and other items of value that were left in cars and trucks. Sometimes the thieves broke windows to get into the cars, but often the doors were unlocked.Referring to a map of the car prowls, Barge said there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to the areas which have been hit. Only the neighborhoods around the high school and North Whidbey Middle School have escaped the thievery so far.Barge did, however, point out that the majority of the car prowls occurred in the darkness of Monday nights into Tuesday mornings.The police have no leads. Barge said he doesn’t know how many people are involved in the car prowls, but judging from the sheer number, he suspects there is a group or groups of roughly-organized young thieves out there.Crimes like car prowl and vandalism – which is another common crime city police have to deal with – are especially hard to solve. The crimes are committed in the dead of night and the criminals are usually sneaky enough to avoid being seen. Although it has happened, Barge said it’s very rare for a police officer to happen upon a car prowl in progress.To increase the chances of this, Barge said he plans to increase the number of officers patrolling neighborhoods, especially at night.He said he is also pushing Block Watch programs to organize neighbors to watch out for each other. There are several old Block Watch programs in the city, but the majority of the city’s residents are not involved in any organized efforts to keep their neighborhoods safe.Under the program, a half dozen or so neighbors make a commitment to be especially vigilant during certain hours every week, sort of acting as extra eyes and ears of the police. It’s been tough keeping the program going in the past, he said, because of the transient nature of the Navy community.Barge said anyone interested in starting a Block Watch program should contact the police department. The department will organize a meeting in the neighborhood to explain the program, offer safety and security tips and do security checks of each home. The police department will erects signs and hand out stickers in the neighborhoods involved.It’s been shown over and over again in other cities that Block Watch and Operation ID programs dramatically reduce crime, he said. “