LAPLACE – They say it takes cooperation between police and residents to most effectively stop crime.

That point couldn’t have been more clear than Monday morning in the New Era Subdivision in LaPlace, where an alert neighbor called the St. John Sheriff’s Office, helping apprehend three burglary suspects with the crime in progress.

St. John Sheriff’s Office reports showed a call was made at 11:06 a.m. Monday, with a swift response to the home in only three minutes on Cartier Drive.

“A neighbor apparently saw something suspicious next to their home and called us, and that’s the kind of help from neighbors that can help stop so many things like this,” Sgt. Dane Clement said.

Clement was actually involved in the quick apprehension on the case as he was just leaving the Sheriff’s Office on Airline Highway almost across the street from the subdivision.

“I had just gotten gas in my car and heard the dispatch, so I just headed right across the street. By the time I got there, Officer Blane Rome had already made it and apprehended one suspect outside the house,” Clement explained.

Clement then joined with another officer on the scene and went in through a window which had apparently been opened to gain access.

“We just yelled in the house that we were with the Sheriff’s Office, and these two guys immediately gave up,” he said. “We asked them if they belonged in the home and they admitted they didn’t.”

Clement said the house was being ransacked for anything of value.

“Burglaries are difficult to solve in the first place, so we were really glad to catch these guys since they were apparently pretty brazen to do this in broad daylight,” said Sheriff’s Office Maj. Michael Tregre, public information officer for the department. “And of course it is really helpful when neighbors call in anything suspicious.”

Arrested in the case were Brandon Stewart, 17, of LaPlace and Dow Anderson, 20, of LaPlace, as well as a 16-year-old lookout, also from Laplace.

According to Tregre, a call was later made to the police dapartment reported a burglary in the 1300 block of Cartier, suggesting the arrested may have struck twice before they were caught.

‘Based on the method of operation, it looks like the same people,” Tregre said.