I've been on several Citizens on Patrol walks now, and I've learned that rarely, if ever, do the citizens who patrol confront actual crime.

That of course is not the point. Residents discover problem properties, cracked sidewalks, trash strewn streets and meet people who don't come to the monthly community meetings. What goes unsaid is that these walks are by a group of people who care confronting the people who don't.

Last night, I accompanied a walk sponsored by the Charles Village Community Benefits District. The event was well attended -- about 35 residents -- but also had the markings of being well organized. The benefits district levies its own taxes in a 100 square-block area, so I'd expect them to have it together.

Here's a sampling of who came: The Northern District Police commander, Maj. Ross Buzzuro; City Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake; an official from the housing authority and two code enforcement officers.

Residents complained about crime, yes, but mostly about nuisance issues that tend to pile up  when not quickly addressed. Jason Pyeron lives and works in the village, and is frustrated by the onwer of an apartment building who he said dumps trash on the street. Payern told Buzzuro that he was beaten by a worker and had his camera broken when he tried to photograph the infraction. He said trash cans he bought for his neighbors were stolen.

Derek Denmore told Rawlings-Blake about the "new class of prostitutes" working North Calvert Street near East 23rd. "They drive in to work," he said.

"They're men, right?" Rawlings-Blake said. "They've moved up Calvert."

Buzzuro said he had nightly patrols to target the trade. "I don't know how much crime we deter," he said. "But the idea that the community is the extra eyes and ears of the police just gets better with every walk."

Eric Backus, one of the code enforcement officers, was particularly busy noting problem houses.

"You can nitpick," he said of the complaints. "But I don't mind. The community has standards and we want to maintain those standards. It's harder in other neighborhoods where they don't have standards. Neighborhood blight is like a cancer and we don't want it to spread. One vacant house becomes two becomes three and four in one block. And with that you get crime."

It's a candid assessment and a lesson for other communities. If you don't care, nobody else will either.