Fri Jun 12, 10:41 am ET
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Tokyo district plagued with burglaries has turned to planting flowers to beautify its streets and help stamp out crime.

"'Operation Flower' began about three years ago. By planting flowers facing the street, more people will be keeping an eye out while taking care of the flowers or watering them," said Kiyotaka Ohyagi, a Suginami City official.

"The best way to prevent crime is to have more people on the lookout."

Suginami, with a population of 528,800, saw a record 1,710 break-ins in 2002.

When a neighborhood watch group found that there were fewer burglaries in buildings on flower-lined streets, Suginami decided to kick off Operation Flower and asked volunteers to plant seeds on side streets and in front of their homes.

The flowers are part of a wider crime prevention campaign. The district also has 9,600 volunteer patrollers and 200 security cameras set up in areas where there are frequent break-ins. It also emails crime information daily to residents.

Suginami says its efforts have paid off, with the number of burglaries falling to 390 in 2008, down almost 80 percent from 2002.

"Our residents are very conscientious about preventing crime, and they are very active," Ohyagi said.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Chris Gallagher

In my neighborhood, burglars would take flowers pots too. My stupid plastic swan planter was stolen off my front porch some years ago. Now, I plant in very heavy planters such as a tire planter found in the alley or a half whiskey barrel. And I tie my lighter planters to the railings with wire.

A friend who participated in a garden walk said last year she had a hostanap from her own garden. She had just planted it! This is in a ritzy Chicago suburb now.

It's can't be a "Gardener"... a real gardener is far more concerned with sharing plants to ever take one like that.

Not saying it's a bad idea, but you may as well just say "hey criminal...I dare you to get by this"

In my condo complex there are lot of units that have a security system in place. I see quite a few signs for a company called ADT. Those ADT signs mean nothing to a professional thief, but they DO mean something for the opportunist. The kind of thief that sees a chance and then acts... or the kid looking for something easy.