Statistics prove that crime is becoming more and more prevalent, as the economy and jobs decline. Home break ins are on the rise. With a neighborhood watch program in effect, these crimes will not be occurring in your neighborhood. What is the Neighborhood Watch program? It is a joint effort of the entire neighborhood to be vigilant with suspicious activities and persons in your area. Here is a primer on how to establish this program.
1. Establish a need for a Neighborhood Watch program. If you have a mixture of working and retired persons in your area, the program will work well. If you have people who work from their homes, and stay at home Moms and Dads, this will work, also.
2. Contact the local law enforcement agency to obtain some information on the Neighborhood Watch Program.
3. Contact some neighbors or a community association to see if there is an interest in organizing such a program in your area.
4. Call a meeting of neighbors. Get a representative from the local law enforcement agency to address those gathered.
5. Establish a need for specific volunteer jobs, and solicit volunteers.
6. Gather a list of home owners and renters. Include a contact number, and time that they would be willing to watch ie day time or night.
7. Make a list based on time available, days available etc.
8. Obtain Neighborhood Watch stickers for those interested in participating in the program. These stickers should be placed on windows and doors in individual homes. Get yard signs for street entrances, advertising that the neighborhood is participating in a neighborhood watch program.
9. Call another meeting when all materials are assembled. Find out from the group assembled, the number of stickers needed.
10. At this meeting, you will need to add the names of the people who have not attended the first meeting.
11. Select volunteers to keep track of the stickers, reordering when supply is depleted. Another person should be in charge of putting up street signs. These signs do cost, but usually a local bank or business will donate funds to purchase them.
12. Another volunteer should be selected to make a schedule. The volunteers that offer their time, merely watch and report any suspicious act or person in the neighborhood.
13. Watch captains should be selected. These volunteers are to be contacted by the street volunteers when there is a suspicious occurrence. Watch captains do not act in checking out the problem, but they are the ones that contact the proper law enforcement agency. This precludes a large number of calls to the law enforcement personnel. They will also be familiar with the names of the captains, and rely on them for information.
14. Volunteers are needed to start the phone tree. Alerts are passed from neighbor to neighbor advising of criminal activity in the area.
As the program evolves, neighborhoods might find a need for other volunteers to do tasks required . There is no need for a monthly meeting, after the program is started. Periodically, the group should meet to iron out the wrinkles that become apparent in the program.
Crime will definitely take a back seat to crime prevention, once a group is started. Word gets around to the criminal element, and they will go to other neighborhoods that do not have the security of such a program.
