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The squeaky wheel gets the grease, said head of county park police Darien Manley at a meeting last Thursday to discuss crime in the Castle Boulevard area of Briggs Chaney.

So when roughly 25 Briggs Chaney residents, apartment managers, business owners and school officials came out to discuss crime at the second IDA sector meeting, Manley and other police officials seemed enthusiastic about their comments and questions.

IDA sector meetings—named for the police coverage area encompassing Briggs Chaney and White Oak—were started as a reaction to two recent homicides in the area. Police officials used the forum to discuss crime statistics and address concerns over everything from 911 operator etiquette to gang activity.

Attendees like Board of Education member Mike Durso, who represents the Briggs Chaney area, said they were impressed with the honesty of police officers at the meeting.

"Obviously, I think there's a genuine concern about all the safety issues," he said. "I thought both having the police and the park police present and very, very candid [was important]. I didn't get the idea they were ducking issues or trying to paint an unrealistic picture."

Many audience members raised their hands to discuss specific problems, like illegal go-gos or a sex offender living in the area.

"Forums like this are excellent, not only because it gives you that face time with the law enforcement community, but it allows you to hear the community's concerns," said Daniel Straub, a retired detective and a member of the Burtonsville Merchants Association.

"I didn't know that some of the concerns that are out there were there," said Elijah Wheeler, a case manager with Linkages to Learning, a program at nearby Greencastle Elementary School that addresses social and economic issues of students. He said he was surprised to hear someone bring up the issue of illegal parties, such as go-go dances, in the area.

Lieutenant Stephen D'Ovidio also discussed year-to-date crime statistics for the Briggs Chaney area, where robberies, aggravated assaults and commercial burglaries are down. Thefts from vehicles are up slightly, from 182 between January and September of 2008 to 194 in the same time period this year. Stolen vehicles are way down, D'Ovidio said, with 85 cars stolen year-to-date as opposed to 180 during the same time period last year.

Year-to-date residential burglaries are up nearly 40 percent from 2008, he said, but he suspects most of those were by a single person who was recently arrested. The Castle Boulevard area had seen a rash of 36 robberies between May and September but has not had any since police made the arrest, D'Ovidio said.

White Oak, on the other hand, is catching up to Briggs Chaney in crime, he said. No police officers have been taken out of White Oak to cover Briggs Chaney, but he said he needs to give more attention to White Oak, where reports of shots fired and a recent increase in robberies have him concerned.

As for whether the decrease in crime in Briggs Chaney is due to meeting-savvy residents making more anonymous tips or the police force's own efforts in the area, there's no way of telling.

"I won't know if they're calling, all I know is my numbers are going down," he said.

The next IDA sector meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 21.