By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Residents in a Pima County neighborhood said for years they have dealt with illegal shooting, littering, trespassing, and off-roading on state trust land located behind their properties.
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Now, county and state officials have taken action to ensure their safety.
“Yeah, the guns, the guns are scary. I mean, they can go through your walls, they go through your windows,” said Paulette Green, a neighbor.
Since they moved into their Eagle Point Estate home in 2017, Paulette and Jim Green have dealt with bullets being fired in the land behind their neighborhood.
“This is happening 10, 11, 12, 1, 2 in the morning. And some of it’s rapid fire,” Jim Green said.
The Greens also said they have dealt with noise and blowing dust from ATV off-roaders.
Their home is located among 3,600 acres of Arizona state trust land, which has since been closed to the public following growing concern from residents like Jim and Paulette.
“When you’re having rounds, bullets coming into your dining room area, that’s no, we need to do something now,” said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.
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PCSD has sent out a new special enforcement task force to the area to deal with trespassers. Nanos said since the task force began patrolling a week and a half ago, violators have been caught.
“We’ve made some arrests, and we’ve made some confiscations of the razors or ATVs, and confiscated some weapons as well,” Nanos said.
Jim Green said he is happy with the patrols.
“I have not heard gunshots in the last week, week and a half,” he said.
Still, he does worry that once the patrols end, violators might come back.
“I think it could come to an end as long as they keep up enforcement. I still think they need to put the wire and the bollards all the way from the end of Vahalla here all the way down to Valencia so they can’t get through,” Jim Green said.
Nanos said he plans to keep patrols in the area regularly until they can find a more long-term solution, like creating a designated recreational space somewhere among the 3,600 acres where individuals can recreate safely.
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