Neighborhood Watch
A neighborhood watch or neighbourhood watch (see spelling differences), also called a crime watch or neighbourhood crime watch, is an organized group of civilians devoted to crime and vandalism prevention within a neighborhood.
The aim of neighborhood watch includes educating residents of a community on security and safety and achieving safe and secure neighborhoods. However, when a criminal activity is suspected, members are encouraged to report to authorities, and not to intervene. Neighbourhood Watch is a program to help neighbours watch out for neighbours.
Getting involved is easy.
It is as simple as getting to know your neighbours and exchanging contact information.
The program combats crime in the most effective way – before it starts – by reducing the opportunities for crime to occur.
Your neighbours know who you are, what type of car you drive, and may be the first to notice a suspicious person at your door or window. A police officer on patrol are not always aware of the normal comings and goings in your street.
You and your neighbours are in a position to observe strangers and/or strange behaviour and report these suspicions to police. By simply getting to know the neighbours around you, you will be well positioned to recognise someone or something that’s suspicious.
Starting a Neighborhood Watch
Want to start a Neighborhood Watch in your area? Follow these seven steps:
1. Gauge interest. Put the word out among your neighbors to see who’s interested in starting a group. Participation is crucial to a good Neighborhood Watch, says Hall. You need enough people to have a block captain for each block (or every couple of blocks) who’s willing to attend extra meetings, help with special events and notify neighbors about crimes or upcoming meetings, she adds.
2. Partner with police. To start an official Neighborhood Watch, you have to team up with local law enforcement. Why? Because the police will listen to concerns, inform you about crime statistics and specific problems in your area and help you get training.
3. Hold a kickoff meeting. Set a date for an initial meeting with interested neighbors and local police officers. Identify your neighborhood’s top three concerns and create a plan for addressing those, the National Sheriff’s Association recommends. Use a sign-in sheet to get names, emails and phone numbers. You can register your group for free with National Neighborhood Watch. You have the option of paying a membership fee ($7.50 to $15 per person for a group, depending on the size) to receive perks like suggested meeting topics, meeting agendas, checklists and observation logs.
Related: Don’t Let Your Home Security System Get Hacked
4. Get training. Work with law enforcement to get trained on what type of activity to watch for and how to make homes more secure. The National Neighborhood Watch offers self-paced training online for Neighborhood Watch leaders. And some police departments will send officers to do home security assessments for interested homeowners. “It’s about being proactive,” Boykin says.
5. Get the lay of the land. Figure out who lives where and which houses are vacant. You should have a map of your neighborhood, Hall says. While you’re doing this, get more names of interested neighbors.
6. Recruit window watchers. Ask homemakers, retirees and work-at-home neighbors to sign up as “window watchers” — people who agree to be extra vigilant, especially during the day when others are at work. “People think about crime happening at night, but it also happens during the day when people are away,” says Hall.
7. Find a way to get the word out. It’s crucial to have a way to communicate quickly, Hall says. You can use email blasts, a private Facebook page or even Nextdoor.com, a social networking site for crime prevention that allows you to register your cell number and receive urgent alerts from your neighbors.
Here are some videos from Youtube that show you how it looks like.
Credit to the owner of the video
