They voiced their frustrations to District 10 Councilwoman Nancy Pyle at a Sept. 12 community meeting at Almaden Country School sponsored by the Almaden Valley Community Association.

Some 10 Shadowbrook residents asked Pyle to help them with the "problem house" that has seen a series of renters since August 2004. The landlords did meet with the neighbors after they complained to them about the first problem renters, but the neighbors told Pyle that when new renters moved in, there was no improvement.

Neighbors said they had reason to believe the residents of the house might be involved in drugs, and they cited a mysterious ice cream truck that showed up regularly at that house, without dispensing ice cream in the neighborhood.

Pyle said she would check with the city attorney's office to see what legal remedies the neighbors might have, but when she mentioned the possibility of more police presence, neighbors said they had been frustrated in their attempts to get the police to act. The police have told residents that for officers to confirm drug activities, police have to catch suspects in the act of exchanging money and transferring drugs.

In a later interview, San Jose police Capt. Jack Farmer said surveillance officers have been to the Shadowbrook neighborhood in response to the neighbors' complaints and said he would continue to deploy officers to investigate.

"When we set up, we didn't see the amount of [foot] traffic that residents described," Farmer said. "[The neighbors' problem] is a priority for me," he added. "I'm well aware of it."

Some Almaden residents have the perception that there is only one police patrol car that serves the area, but the police department said that is not accurate. According to Sgt. Nick Muyo, a spokesman for the department, there are six patrol teams for each police district. Each team has one sergeant who oversees three to seven officers. On any given day, three of those teams are patrolling that district. Beyond the beat officers, Muyo said, there are additional specialized officers, such as those who are part of the canine units or the SWAT teams, who can be called out to a neighborhood to investigate a problem.

Muyo said inviting district sergeants and beat officers to Neighborhood Watch group meetings is a good way of letting them know about the common concerns residents in the neighborhood have.

The owner of the "problem house" agreed to talk to the Almaden Resident once he talked to his wife, but then he failed to return several voice mail messages.

Other issues discussed at the AVCA meeting included a concern about oversized houses and a general displeasure over a recent proposal to locate sports fields at a site owned by IBM. Pyle said she would continue to explore all possible sports field sites.