Despite a violent couple of days, there are signs of hope on the Rockford crime scene. Over the past year there have been no murders on any Rockford public housing property. That sharp turn-around is thanks to some seriously stepped up security.

The private security company Metro Enforcement has been stationed at all Rockford housing properties for a year now. They work closely with Rockford police to provide a nearly constant presence and officers say their work is paying off.
"It's been a good year. Nobody's been killed. No murders," says Larry Hodges, director of Metro Enforcement. "Of course we have incidents every night, things that we deal with. A lot of people been arrested. A lot of people kicked out of Rockford housing for various reasons. But it's a quieter situation now."
The Rockford Housing Authority uses its operating budget to pay for the security officers and RHA representatives say they're getting their money's worth.
"The other day we were in a meeting with the police. They said it's the cleanest they've seen the property in 26 years," says Paul Hackerson, RHA's Director of Management Services. "It's nice just to come out and walk the properties, talk to the kids and see that they're out playing and not fearful and staying in the apartments."
But the problems haven't disappeared.
"There's always drugs, there's drugs everywhere," says Hodges.
Last August, Metro conducted a major sweep in Concord Commons and shut down three drug apartments. Since then they say they're in maintenance mode.
"We've got two issues, number one the music and number two who's smoking?" Hodges says to a resident. "I've been doing this too many years not to know what marijuana smells like and as soon as we knock on the door and we announce who we are then of course the air freshener comes out. Well, because I didn't see anything there was nothing in plain view we could act on, we can't just force our way in there and say OK we're searching."
So Metro checks id's to make sure no one is on the list of people barred from RHA properties, files a report and promises to come knocking again soon.

Hodges says it's important to note that of the hundreds of people they've arrested on housing authority property, only five people have been RHA residents. The rest were outsiders coming in to start trouble. That's why checking ID's is so important and thousands of people are banned from the grounds.

Some residents 23 News spoke to said things are getting better and quieter with Metro Enforcement aroun.
But a couple said they feel like the security is too much and that Metro gets into residents' business too much.
If you ask Metro or the RHA, they'll say checking up on people is part of keeping things safe.