Using A Neighborhood Watch Program to Secure Your Home

By Clyde Smith

A Neighborhood Watch program is a great way to bring community citizens and law enforcement together to decrease crime and make any community safer. The program counts on citizens to organize themselves and work with police to keep an eye and ear open at all times. Close knit communities usually report less break-ins, thefts and overall crimes when a proper neighborhood watch program is in place.

Starting a Neighborhood Watch Program

1. Get in touch with police or sheriff’s office to gain credibility and to add a good source of training and tips.

2. Get in touch with victim service offices to help train member of the program on how to help victims of crime.

3. Gather facts about past crime activities in the area to learn how often crime occurs.

4. Canvass door-to-door for recruitment, especially people who are always home or those who come and go often.

5. Hold regular meetings. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors and their lifestyles. Having an opportunity to handout packets of information and tips is crucial since crime happens so often.

6. Rally the members of your group to clean up the area. Talk to store owners about keeping up with the landscaping that leads into the community. Also make others aware that keeping up with landscaping throughout the community allows neighbors to easily watch other properties.

7. Provide members with yard and window signs. There can never be too many posted around the neighborhood.

8. Most importantly, it’s important that members of such an organization know that they are not the police. Remind them that they are simply alert, observant people who care about the community.

NCPC

This organization (National Crime Prevention Council) was launched in 1972 after a series of rapes and murders in NYC. Now sponsored by the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), data shows that after the first ten years of the program 12% of the country had followed suit. Today, there are well over 30 million members of such groups. The NCPC offers tips, advice and resources to people who are interested in beginning a neighborhood watch program around their community.

Types of Communities

When it comes to neighborhood watch programs most people tend to think homes with driveways and sidewalks. And yes, most programs are set up in such communities. However, many apartment complexes and mobile home parks offer such programs for renters to join. Statistics show that renters are 85% more likely to experience crime in their neighborhoods since most people in these communities don’t take the time to get to know their neighbors. There's no reason why people in these communities shouldn’t get to know their neighbors though. Regardless of where you live, it’s important to know the people who surround you.