But it's nosiness that helped this community not only take a bite out of crime, but boot it out of their valley.

"The police have told us that crime isn't just a police problem, it's a community problem," said Jeannine Johnson, a Niu Valley resident.

A year ago, community meetings were standing room only because of a soaring number of burglaries among the 728 homeowners. Residents, acting on their own, were calling police reporting burglaries, car thefts and suspicious activities five or six times a day. A year later, the residents are still involved, still nosy, but for the past two months there hasn't been a single incident reported, according to police statistics.

Much of the community's crime came from a suspected drug house in Niu Valley. After it was shut down by police six months ago and the occupants of another moved out, crime has dropped off dramatically, residents say.

Police arrested Eric Waltz, the son of a longtime resident. Waltz was indicted in February and in August pleaded guilty to all charges: felony and misdemeanor charges of third-degree possession of a dangerous drug, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, third-degree unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and promotion of a harmful drug, said Jim Fulton, city prosecutor's spokesman. He is serving five years probation, Fulton said.

Working together as a community, talking to neighbors and keeping an eye on one another helps police fight crime in communities, said Police Maj. Bart Huber.

"Niu Valley was one of the more aggressive Neighborhood Security Watch communities," Huber said. "It's improved in Niu Valley. I tip my hat to the community for organizing themselves and for watching each other's back."

Another factor helping the community is its security vigilance. Residents are more apt to remember to lock doors, to not leave valuables out in the open, to secure windows and activate security alarms.

While the crime and the tension is gone from their community, the vigilance remains. When strangers are in the neighborhood, residents talk to them, asking if they can help. Now they talk to one another either by e-mail, phone or face to face as neighbors. They act in unison, rather than individually.

"We will always be suspicious," said Susan Mathewson, a Niu Valley resident. "I think I have posttraumatic stress syndrome. I'm like Mrs. Kravitz (the nosy neighbor from the TV show 'Bewitched')."

They're still not ready to let their guard down. They still are printing up monthly newsletters and operate a Web site, have a telephone tree in place and the Neighborhood Security Watch program is firmly in place, Johnson said.

They also plan to continue targeting legislation that would make it easier for police to obtain search warrants on known drug houses, Johnson said.

Two weeks ago she submitted ideas to Sen. Sam Slom R-18th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai). She and Linda Vannatta plan to keep up their legislative vigilance, but with not as much fervor as last year when they burned up vacation time to sit in hearings to testify on bills. But they still plan to submit testimony, talk to area lawmakers and suggest legislation.

"I don't have the passion this year," Vannatta said. "Then we wanted to show the lawmakers our anger. But I will submit written testimony."

This year they're targeting:

• A bill to strip legislative committee chairs of being the single deciders of which bills get heard, voted on or moved out of committees. "I found it extremely demeaning to have to beg committee chairs to grant the Law Enforcement Coalition bills a hearing and to testify sometimes before only the chairperson with no other committee members present," Johnson said.

• A bill to require the Legislature to schedule joint hearings on their bills, or require that hearings be held in the evening or weekends. "It is extremely difficult for ordinary tax-paying citizens to take off work," Johnson said.

• Support for the bills presented by the Hawai'i Law Enforcement Coalition. "Communities fighting drug houses desperately need help," Johnson said. "Two years are two years too long for communities like mine to have to battle drug dealers who bring criminals into neighborhoods to support their addictions through burglaries and car theft. We need to give police the tools they need to quickly apprehend drug dealers and carriers through better search warrant laws, the return of the walk and talk and implementation of knock and talk programs."

These programs, while more established in other communities on the Mainland, are proven ways to help communities take back their neighborhood from crime, Huber said.

"We need the community to fight crime," he said. Everyone in the neighborhood should know each other and who belongs and who doesn't. Don't' be afraid to challenge what is unusual because you would hope that someone would do the same for you.

"It's the only way we can catch criminals. We cannot put an officer in every community."