Safety concerns in Hope Valley Farms have increased since two recent armed robberies, and for the second time in the past month, city leaders will meet with residents upset about crime.

Mayor Bill Bell and representatives from the Durham Police Department are expected to attend a Hope Valley Farms homeowners association meeting Wednesday evening.

Their attendance comes after three residents were robbed at gunpoint in front of their homes in late December. No one was injured, but shots were fired during both incidents in the southwest Durham subdivision bordered by Hope Valley Road, Fayetteville Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

The crimes occurred after a resident saw a vehicle he didn't recognize in front of his home with four people in it -- three of them with ski masks on. He went to a friend's house for safety.

"I was scared," said the man, who did not want his name published for safety reasons. "For that to happen in the neighborhood that you live in definitely makes you aware of your surroundings and question every car that pulls into your neighborhood."

Residents in the Morehead Hill area just south of downtown met with police and city officials after Trevor Spain was slain inside his Shepherd Street home Dec. 26. In such meetings, police often say common sense, taking proper security measures and looking out for each other are the best ways to prevent crime. Spain's neighbors promised to improve communication among each other and with city and county agencies at the end of the meeting.

Burglaries, larcenies and robberies in the Hope Valley Farms and Hope Valley Farms North areas are infrequent -- about 7.5 incidents per month combined, according to unofficial Durham police numbers.

But southwest Durham isn't immune to crime. There were four armed robberies at the Bank of America ATM on Hope Valley Road in October and November.

The most common crimes in the Hope Valley Farms area in 2008 were larceny from a motor vehicle (29), shoplifting (24) and forced entry burglary (16). There were only two reported robberies of individuals.

Between January and November, there were an average of 80 robberies, 285 burglaries and 619 larcenies per month citywide, according to police. Complete 2008 numbers were not immediately available.

Robbery is the taking of something by force or threat of force. Burglary is the unlawful entry into a place to commit a theft or felony. Larceny is like burglary but does not include unlawful entry.

Durham Police Chief Jose L. Lopez Sr. said officers are conducting operations in the Hope Valley Farms area but would not elaborate. The neighborhood, part of the Police Department's District 3, has one beat officer out of 12 that patrol the district. Lopez also said the department will be working with area block captains in the near future.

"Hopefully what we're doing as a police department, we're trying to make something very positive out of the situation that is continuous, not just reactionary," he said.