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Last September, Silver Spring resident Christine Gardner was running late taking her daughter to school when someone made her pause.

Gardner noticed a teenager walking in her neighborhood of Springbrook Manor off New Hampshire Avenue. It seemed odd, she said, because it was a school day and class had started. The boy walked slowly, his head fixated on the ground until he stopped at her neighbor's house.

"He didn't look like he belonged there," Gardner said Friday.

Gardner went around the neighbor's house and spotted the boy again, this time opening the screen door to the front of the house. After seeing him loitering near a side door to the home, she called police.

"I wanted to just keep going," Gardner said. "But if something happened there, I wouldn't forgive myself. … I almost didn't call because I didn't want to [be] just profiling."

Police arrived within minutes and the boy, a Springbrook High School student, was apprehended by police and taken to the school, which is located nearby. Gardner said the boy didn't receive a harsh punishment because she called police too early – the suspect hadn't taken anything when police arrived.

Barry Wides, president of the North White Oak Civic Association, said the association works with police, including Educational Facilities Officer Rodney Barnes, who helped foil the alleged bomb plot of two Springbrook students last month. He said Barnes attends association meetings.

"When we see suspicious incidents we report them," said Wides, who said the police's planned relocation to a site in the White Oak area could help deter crime there.

Gardner said she thinks many of the burglaries and larcenies in the area are committed by teenagers since the crimes tend to be unorganized in nature. While Gardner commended the police and said they're not to blame for crimes in her neighborhood, she said some teens know they'll be disciplined less harshly than adults who commit the same crime.

"They know that they're untouchable and they basically are," she said.

Burglaries have been a problem in the Springbrook Manor area, Gardner said. She can cite multiple people in her neighborhood who have had their homes broken into in the last few years, including a woman who had her engagement ring taken.

An even greater number of vehicles are being broken into in the Burtonsville and White Oak areas.

According to police reports, 24 thefts from vehicles took place between May 4 and 12 in the 11 corridor, which includes Fairland, Hillandale and White Oak. In 13 of the incidents, burglars broke windows to gain access. There were 11 vehicle larcenies the week before and three the week before that.

Fourteen vehicle larcenies from April 6 to 14 took place in the Third District Police's I2 corridor, which includes Burtonsville, Spencerville and the Briggs Chaney area. No larcenies occurred the following week and seven were listed from April 20-28.

Stolen items in the I2 thefts included iPod music players, GPS devices, tapes and CDs. In one car, sports equipment was taken, including a baseball bat.

"It's a very transient area," said Lt. Paul Liquorie, deputy commander of the county police department's Third District station. "People can rove from [state to state] very quickly."

Liquorie said the simplistic nature of vehicle larceny attracts a wide net of offenders, from teens to drug addicts to career criminals looking for an easy steal. Auto theft, particularly theft of auto parts, tends to be more organized since it requires more specialization, he said.

Simple steps can help prevent vehicle larceny, Liquorie said. Those include locking car doors and bringing valuable items home.

Liquorie said officers have responded in the I2 corridor with unmarked police cars and said they would let patrol officers decide if they want to participate in the county police's Postcard Initiative. As part of the initiative, which would focus on areas hit hardest by vehicle larceny, county police would inspect cars in the area and note what items could be taken inside the car, such as a laptop or cell phone. After a license plate scan, police would send a postcard to the resident of the inspected car, detailing how someone could break into their vehicle.

In addition, Liquorie said the use of unmarked police cars has proven successful in deterring larcenies.

From January 2008 to July 2008, there were 3,887 thefts from vehicles or vehicle parts in Montgomery County, according to police.

Theft of electronic devices from vehicles can come in waves, Liquorie said. The area's dense population makes it easier for thieves to make mass thefts: "It's a lucrative business," he said.

Once the items are stolen, Liquorie said the thieves often sell the items, sometimes online. "There's going to be an underground economy," he said.