Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch programs go by many names: Community Watch, Crime Watch, and Building Watch. But whatever you call it, when neighbors organize to help the police watch over their community, it can make a significant impact on reducing crime -- and fear -- in your area.

What A Neighborhood Watch Does

The typical Watch program involves four ways to make your neighborhood safer:

1. Offers a service to mark valuable items with an identifying number to discourage theft and help the police track down stolen articles.
2. Utilizes proven techniques to make homes safer.
3. Organizes residents in watching over each other and the neighborhood, noting and reporting anything unusual or suspicious to the local authorities, including:
   • Screams or calls for help
   • Someone looking into cars or homes
   • A stranger removing items from unoccupied homes or closed businesses
   • Vehicles cruising slowly or without lights
   • Anyone being forced into a vehicle
   • A stranger stopping to talk to a child
4. Calling 911 or other local emergency number to:
   • Quickly explain what happened.
   • Give your name and address.
   • Describe the suspect's gender and race, age, height, weight, hair color, clothes, and distinguishing features like facial hair, scars, tattoos, or accent.
   • If a vehicle is involved, report the color, make, model, year, license plate and distinguishing features, like bumper stickers or dents.

First Steps

An individual, community organization, or law enforcement agency can initiate a Neighborhood Watch program through a few simple steps:

• Hold a meeting to talk about crime problems and see if there is enough interest to organize a Watch.
• Arrange for local law enforcement professionals to train neighbors in home security, crime patterns, what to watch for, and how to report it.
• Select an overall coordinator and block captains to organize volunteers and establish effective communications.
• Regular meetings to keep your community organized.
• Volunteers patrolling the neighborhood, on foot or in cars, to spot and report any problems.
• Sign up volunteers, including homeowners and renters, business owners, the elderly, working parents, young people ... anybody who can help.

Effective Neighborhood Watch Program Materials and Essentials

A typical Neighborhood Watch program requires:

• Special events to keep members interested and active, including helpful seminars, block parties, neighborhood clean-ups, and tournaments.
• Special safety programs to meet your community's unique needs, like a block parent program to help children during emergencies.