WHY NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH?
- It works. Throughout the country, dramatic decreases in burglary and related offenses are reported by law enforcement professionals in communities with active Watch programs.
- Today’s transient society produces communities that are less personal. Many families have two working parents and children involved in many activities that keep them away from home. An empty house in a neighborhood where none of the neighbors know the owner is a prime target for burglary.
- Neighborhood Watch also helps build pride and serves as a springboard for efforts that address other community concerns such as recreation for youth, child care, and affordable housing, etc.
HOW DOES A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH START?
- A motivated individual, a few concerned residents, a community organization, or a law enforcement agency can spearhead the efforts to establish a Watch. Together they can organize a small planning committee of neighbors to discuss needs, the level of interest, and possible community problems.
- Contact the local police or Sheriff’s department, or local crime prevention organization, for help in training members in home security and reporting skills and for information on local crime patterns.
- Hold an initial meeting to gauge neighbors’ interest, establish the purpose of the program, and begin to identify issues that need to be addressed.
- Select a Coordinator.
- Ask for Block Captain Volunteers who are responsible for relaying information to members.
- Recruit members, keeping up-to-date information on new residents and making special efforts to involve the elderly, working parents, and young people.
- Work with local government or law enforcement to put up Neighborhood Watch signs, usually after 50 percent of all households are enrolled.
WHO CAN BE INVOLVED?
Any community resident can join: young and old, single and married, renter and homeowner. Even the busiest of people can belong to a Neighborhood Watch - they too can keep an eye out for neighbors as they come and go.
WHAT DOES A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH DO?
A Neighborhood Watch is neighbors helping neighbors. They are extra eyes and ears for reporting crime and helping neighbors. Members meet their neighbors, learn how to make their homes more secure, watch out for each other and the neighborhood, and report activities that raise their suspicions to the police or sheriff’s office.
THERE WILL BE MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT THE MEETING ON AUGUST 22 ND.
WE WILL BE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO ASSIST IN THE LAUNCHING OF THE BLOCK WATCH PROGRAM.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BLOCK WATCH CAN BE FOUND AT:
http://www.NCPC.ORG
or contact blockwatchtltr@sbcglobal.net
reprinted with permission from NCPC