By Mike Pulfer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Crime seems to be taking a holiday in Covington, and so are the crime watchers.

"The stats are down as far as we're concerned," says Barb Cook, who was featured in a Tempo story about neighborhood-watch programs last spring. "Everybody seems to be taking life easy."

Things are looking so good, in fact, that neighborhood groups have canceled their December meetings.

"We're going to have a phone tree instead," says Ms. Cook, who helped organize Covington block-watch work 18 years ago and today volunteers as one of three liaisons for 11 separate monitoring groups in the city.

She lives in Latonia.

Crime statistics were down in the summer and fall, she says, but "I don't know the reason. ... Maybe it was too hot or too dry.

"It hasn't been as bad this summer as past summers."

Ms. Cook first became involved in the city's block-watch program after her next-door neighbor was murdered in his home.

Activities reported by volunteers "run the gamut," she said, "from traffic to vandalism to burglaries" to suspicious cars and people.

One of her theories about a drop in reports involves the caliber of monitors.

"Maybe we're just better trained in watching," she said. "When people first get started, they tend to call about every little thing."

Which could happen again in January.

"We'll be getting geared up again after the holidays," she said.

E-mail mpulfer@enquirer.com.