once the cops get use to having this stuff they will be making junk telephone calls asking us to report the location of suspected pot smokers, and jay walkers. Original Article Automated call alerts neighbors to crime Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Mar. 9, 2005 12:00 AM It was just after 6 a.m. Tuesday when Leslea Rutherford got an automated phone call from Tempe police: "We're looking for a suspect." Two unarmed men were spotted in a stolen minivan. Now a K-9 and 14 officers were searching for them because they took off on foot somewhere in the neighborhood. "It startled me," Rutherford said. "It made me scared. I didn't want to go outside." But the message, aimed at nearly 500 homes northeast of the intersection of Southern and Mill avenues, did its job by making her aware of a potential danger, police said. "Our only other option of sending officers door to door is much less efficient and more costly," said Jay Spradling, assistant chief of police. It was only the third time Tempe has used the county's Community Emergency Notification System to get a public safety message out since it was made available 15 months ago. The alert also was launched in Tempe after an ammonia leak in March 2004 and when an elderly man with health problems went missing in January. The city's utilization of the county's $50,000-a-month program is representative of a Valley-wide trend. As law enforcement and city agencies get more comfortable with the program, it's getting more use, said Liz Hunt, CENS manager. In 2004, CENS was used 15 times. During 2005, only three months in, it has been used nine times. Yet the early-morning warning irked some Tempe residents. "I didn't know why they were telling me," said Richard Brinkley, a retired cabinetmaker. "What do I care about a car thief?" Police agreed that this particular use of the alert system might not have been warranted. Spradling said he would evaluate the effectiveness of the call. But other residents said they were grateful for the decision to launch the alert. Even Rutherford, despite her initial, frightened reaction, said she was glad. Before a trip to school, she had her husband walk their 3- and 7-year-old children out to the car. And Rutherford sent the family's Pomeranian, Coco, outside. The fluffy brown pooch is small but loud, she said, while Coco yapped in the back yard. "We're definitely all for it," said her husband, Jeff. "When we hear it, we can know we should be more alert."