Residents who live in the communities said they’ve noticed little of the decrease in violent crime that police have reported. In Mosby and Creighton, people said this week that they see officers only when they are investigating after a crime has occurred, and in Hillside Court, where there are no assigned beat officers, residents said the same.

“They come about 20 minutes after something happens,” said Mosby resident David Turner. “It’s all over by then.”

“There’s only so much police can do,” said another Mosby resident, Theodore Goode. “But they could come around a lot more.”

Authorities say the key to success is when officers know the bad actors — and they are few, police said — who shouldn’t be on the RRHA’s private property, and can remove them. Yoon and Lt. Rick Edwards said they have been charging people who have been banned from the properties with trespassing. So now the threat of having to go to court for that has kept away many who might do harm, they said.

“We don’t want the troublemakers to hold the good folks here hostage,” Yoon said.