It was about 11:30 AM on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 when Eduardo Fields, knew something bad was about to happen. He did what good neighbors need to do. He got involved. He immediately called the police to report a crime about to take place.

The neighbor advised the 9-1-1 operator that as he was standing by the door of his house in the area of NE 171 Street and 12th Avenue, NMB, FL that a grey Dodge Charger pulled up to a house on the street. The White male 18 – 19 year old driver got out and pretended to open the house door with his key. Eduardo makes it a point of knowing his neighbors by name and he knew the man did not live there. Even more odd, he noticed the stranger was only pretending to put the key in the lock. The stranger then started knocking. When no one answered, he returned to his car.

Two young black males exited the same vehicle and proceeded to go in the back yard of that house. The good neighbor, Eduardo Fields, suggested that the police might need to bring K-9 units out since the burglars will be running when the police arrive. The driver of the get-a-way car then proceeded to park down the street.

Within minutes, there were more than 15 police cars on the scene and a police helicopter overhead. As suggested, a K-9 unit also arrived headed by Sergeant Eric Mendez. Mr. Fields remained on the phone with 9-1-1 and led the police to the driver of the get-a-way car. The driver was quickly apprehended. The burglars were then on the run without a get-a-way car at their disposal.

Sergeant Eric Mendez apprehended two of the burglars with the help of his K-9s. One was caught in the back yard of Rabbi and Mrs. Ephraim Eliyahu Shapiro. Rabbi Shapiro commented on how professional the officers were and what a great job Sergeant Eric Mendez did in apprehending two of the four burglars involved. Rabbi Shapiro said “I was particularly impressed with how concerned the officers were for the safety of the public during the entire incident.”

There is likely a fourth individual involved in the burglary. He is believed to live in the neighborhood and to have acted as the scout to identify houses with no one home and then to be a look out. He has been seen in the area and the only description at the time is a young black male.

In addition to the community owing a “thank you” to all the police officers involved in making our neighborhood safer, we all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to our neighbor, Eduardo Fields, who stood up and demonstrated what it is to be a good neighbor.

The burglars did enter the house by breaking the glass door in back. They completely ransacked the house and made off with jewelry some of which was recovered.

When asked why he got involved, Mr. Fields said “it is the right thing to do.” His wife of two years, Gwendolyn, who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years said she was very proud of her husband.

Eduardo repairs and replaces doors and windows and paints and plasters. Since he is self employed he is in and out of the neighborhood on an irregular schedule. That has put him in a position to help keep our neighborhood safe before.

(Article submitted to Yeshivaworld by JewishNewsSite.org)