BELLEVUE - When there's crime in your neighborhood, you want to know about it fast.

Five local police departments are working with a new system to alert neighbors about everything from missing children and school lockdowns to major crimes and homeland security issues.

It's already getting results.

At Bellevue's Kelsey Ridge Apartments early Christmas morning, Mary Lanigan was one of the only people home.

"There was maybe two cars in the whole parking lot," Lanigan describes. "Pretty much everyone cleared out."

Thieves thought they had easy pickings. Four men found an unlocked window. They slipped inside and started stealing things.

But the couple who lived in the apartment was home, and the burglary turned into a frightening home invasion robbery.

Bellevue Police wrote up what happened and sent it out through a new system called CrimeWeb.net.

Subscribers get emails or text messages notifying them of crimes and concerns.

The Christmas morning home invasion proved how well it can work.

The husband confronted the men and he got a good look at one of their faces. That helped police develop a sketch that went out in the very first crime watch report.

Within two hours of the email, officers had their first tip.

"It was someone contacting us saying they might have a lead on who the person in that picture was, someone they'd seen before," says Officer Greg Grannis. "We were able to pass that on to our detectives. That's pretty fast."

Residents at Kesley Ridge have already signed up for CrimeWeb. They want to know when there's crime here.

"It helps you feel a little safer to know what you're dealing with," explain Lanigan.

The man in the sketch is still on the loose. But thanks to CrimeWeb, his picture is circulating Bellevue - so people and police are on the lookout for him.

Redmond, Fife, Mountlake Terrace and Shelton are also using CrimeWeb.net. To sign up for the free service, go to www.crimeweb.net