ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Some Rockford neighborhoods will become more difficult to navigate now that the city has installed “anti-crime” barriers in the streets.

Alderman Tuffy Quinonez says the intersection at 12th Avenue and 8th Street has been a crime gateway in southeast Rockford for years.

“This is a very high crime area here, this one block,” he said. “Here, we’re infested with prostitutes, a lot of dope going on in here. Infested with that.”

So, to make life harder for criminals, police have temporarily blocked off the street’s entrance with cement barriers.

“[We’re] reducing the blood flow to that particular problem,” said Assistant Deputy Chief, Mike Dalke.

Just over two months ago, the murder of Antonio Thompson had police stringing up caution tape where the barriers are now located. Police say they knew they had to act to prevent it from happening again.

Dalke said, “We just needed to put our foot down on some things and come up with innovative solutions to reducing crime in those areas.”

Some neighbors voiced concern that the preventative measures are too little, too late.

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Netha, who lives on the block, said, “It’s been like this for 10 years. Why, all of a sudden, so urgently? Because somebody lost his life? Wasn’t his life valuable before he got shot?”

Police say 911 calls from the area have dropped since the barriers went up, but residents say crime just moved from their block, to the next.

“Right here, at this corner, there was a gentleman in a white vehicle with a car on the back, stop and stared for a long time. I end up seeing him again, right down on the same street,” Netha said. “He’s picking up a prostitute. So, all it did was move it three blocks down.”

The obstacles may turn law breakers away, but people who live in the area don’t have that option.

“If you live on this block, now you got to go all the way around and come back and park in your driveway,” said resident Jeremy Townsend.

Police say the barriers have done their job and they are planning to remove them within the week. Since they worked so well, police may relocate the barriers to another part of the city.

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