A quiet northeast Bakersfield neighborhood is turned upside down after a recent crime spree.

This morning Meredith Silverman and her fiancé jumped out of bed when they heard the sound of their car alarm.

“They walked up and tried to see what they were going to get and then the alarm went off and they ran because we heard the alarm going," said Silverman.

The couple ran out the house but by then the perpetrator was gone and this isn't the neighborhood's first brush with crime.

Silverman says her home was broken into in December of 2011.

For the most part the neighborhood is usually quiet which is why residents are now on edge.

Silverman and a group of others have had enough of their community being violated, so they're having their very first neighborhood watch meeting.

The Bakersfield Police Department encourages neighborhood watch groups. In fact they have a community specialist dedicated to work one on one with neighborhoods who have experienced crime.

BPD says make sure your community always communicates with the police department.

Their first neighborhood watch meeting will be this Thursday at 6 pm.