Osceola residents use Facebook to fight neighborhood crime

Residents in Osceola are banding together to fight crime and they are using Facebook to help.

Westleaf subdivision is one of the neighborhoods using social media to spread the word about crime and keep families safe.

Alayna Wort, 16, and her family live in the Westleaf subdivision. She says for her family, talking about what to do in an emergency is nothing new. 

“We have had these different types of conversations a lot," said Wort.

But these days the conversations carry a little more weight.

“I try to think of scenarios in my head of what would happen and what would I do,” said Wort.

Recently, someone with a gun broke into her neighbor's house.

Since then, the safety conversations have carried over to Facebook. 

The Osceloa Neighborhood Watch  page was created in September and hundreds of people have joined.

On the page now, are warnings about criminals tag teaming houses. 

One person rings the doorbell to distract the family inside, while another walks around the outside of the house and tries to break in the back door.

“I cannot imagine there's much anybody can do other than just look out for neighbors and use the Facebook page to let people know what is going on,” said Wort.