Durham authorities brought their latest word on crime reduction to Northeast Central Durham last week, but residents’ response brought up some old concerns.

On at least one front – the concentration of transitional group homes, or halfway houses – it appears they may be getting some action.

Homeowner Denise Harrison said some blocks in her neighborhood have three or four houses where multiple residents are constantly “coming in, coming out.”

“As long as you have what we have ... there’s no way we can actually know who our neighbors are and work with our neighbors,” she said. “I think this is not a way to reduce crime and create safety.”

“There are too many,” said Vivian McCoy, another area homeowner and long-time activist. “It is a problem.”

In 2007, East Durham residents successfully blocked a city land sale to two nonprofits planning a supportive-housing development and a lock-down residence for youngsters with behavioral problems. But the concentration of rooming houses for recovering addicts, mental patients and other troubled individuals has been an ongoing sore spot in the long-depressed region east of downtown.

According to County Commissioner Ellen Reckhow, last week’s was the “fourth or fifth” recent public meeting at which residents have raised the issue. She has asked City-County Planning Director Steve Medlin for a report on what the local governments have power to do by the end of August.

“Nuisance abatement” in general was another issue raised – such as music played so loud it rattles windows and mysterious goings-on in rental housing – that has been heard often before.

The issues came up during an upate on the city and county’s actions since Mayor Bill Bell called for a “new direction” to fight a 3 percent increase in violent crime last year. One action has been intensified patrolling in Northeast Central Durham, a 96-block area that has a long history of high crime.

Since extra patrolling, and some other measures, began in March, violent crime has decreased, Bell told about 100 people at the Holton Career and Resource Center on Driver Street. In March-June 2011 the area had 97 reported violent incidents, but just 79 in the same period this year.

But Bell, Police Chief Jose L. Lopez, Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews and other officials spent most of their words urging the residents to help the authorities do their jobs.

“Law enforcement is only as effective as the community lets it be,” said District Attorney Leon Stanback.

“You are our eyes and ears,” Andrews said. “You know what’s going on ... We need your input.”

Restricting transitional housing would help “give you the eyes and ears on the ground that you’ve been asking about,” Harrison said.

Durham could see demand for group homes increase due to state plans to move psychiatric patients out of dedicated adult-care facilities, according to Reckhow.

The planning department is compiling a list of licensed mental-health, social-service and judicial group homes for the Joint City-County Planning Committee. According to Medlin, state law does allow local authorities to require up to a half-mile separation between facilities – but the matter can be complicated by federal fair-housing regulations.