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Residents of the West Side's Tres Volcanes neighborhood were already fed up with crime.

But when 12-year-old Natalie Mendoza was killed in her bed in a gang-related shooting in March, they knew they had to do something.

So they contacted police, got some training and began patrolling the streets, looking for signs of criminal activity.

In two short months, they have cut police calls in the neighborhood in half.

Tres Volcanes, located near the intersection of Ladera Drive and Unser Boulevard Northwest, used to average about 16 calls a month to police, said Capt. Conrad Candelaria of the Westside Area Command of the Albuquerque Police Department.

"After the neighborhood watch was installed, they went down to seven calls," Candelaria said. "And they just started two months ago."

Crime prevention might not pay, but the difference it makes in a neighborhood's welfare is priceless to those who live there.

Neighborhoods around the city and the country celebrated the 24th National Night Out with potlucks and parties on Aug. 7, marking their efforts to combat crime.

Gerald Worrall, along with other members of the Tres Volcanes Neighborhood Association, took a few hours out of the day to indulge in the evening's festivities.

Worrall, the association president, is among the neighbors who have instituted a citizen's patrol unit called Neighborhood on Patrol.

"We use our own vehicles with a sign on the vehicle and a yellow light on the top, and we drive through the neighborhood looking for things that are inviting of criminal activity," Worrall said. "You know, a garage door left open or a car running in the driveway."

Candelaria said that in general, the more active a community is, the less likely it is to see criminal activity.

"When you see a car randomly going through a neighborhood with citizens on patrol and you're a criminal, you're going to think, `Why would I go here when I can go somewhere else,' " Candelaria said.

Worrall said the impetus for Neighborhood on Patrol came from a series of serious crime incidents in the area.

"We had a break-in a few doors away from where I live where the people had broken through the front door and didn't think anyone was home and surprised this woman, held her at gunpoint and stole her car," Worrall said.

Not long after that, 12-year old Natalie Mendoza was killed in a gang-related shooting.

Candelaria said Mendoza's death was the tragic motivation that brought members of the neighborhood together.

"They wanted to become active participants in the overall prevention of crime," he said.