A team of researchers at New York University say that everyday citizens who decide to improve their communities deserve much of the credit for falling crime rates.

Tired of waiting for city funding approval, residents are installing their own cameras or allotting neighborhood funds for additional police-run surveillance cameras in crime-ridden neighborhoods. 

After months of having packages stolen off of their porches, one Noe Valley neighbor took action with a camera and some bear spray.

Twenty neighborhoods in Atlanta and at least four in Detroit have hired private guards to patrol after municipal services are being cut because of financial and economic problems.