How To Start A Neighborhood Watch Program
A neighborhood watch program helps to keep neighborhoods safe from home invasions, kidnappings, and illegal activities. Neighbors, parents, and senior citizens can meet to talk about ways to keep their families and neighborhood safe from harm. Once established the group works with their local police station to patrol the neighborhood. Any community who want to start a successful program need to know how to run an effective program.
In the early 1970s, sheriffs around the United States established a neighborhood watch program with the purpose and intent of reducing the amount of crimes committed in communities. Communities across the country work with their local police stations to help lower crime in their neighborhoods.Everyone comes together, families, single parents, senior citizens, renters, and businesses join forces to stop crime in their neighborhood.
Using Crime Stoppers
Neighborhood communities use crime stoppers as another way to reduce crime in their area. Members of crime stoppers have the ability to report anonymous tips about a crime, and to build networks with local programs in their neighborhoods. This program helps to solve crimes in local communities. There are many participants across the country who work with the police to reduce the crime rate.
When people want to start a neighborhood program in their community, they need to include local businesses, parents, renters, homeowners, and teenagers. One person in the group needs to be the captain, or leader of the program. This individual needs to be good at delegating tasks, a good communicator, and a self-starter. The captain designs a vision on what they want their community to look like, and to think of different strategies to reduce crimes in their area. The captain needs to recruit people and businesses for the watch program to be successful.
An organized program is essential for the program to be effective in reducing and preventing crimes. Scheduling weekly or monthly meetings are critical for neighborhood programs to work effectively. The meetings ideally need to involve at least one representative from the local police department. The captain needs to call, send meeting notices, or hand out flyers that talk about the watch program to include the entire neighborhood. It can be a very time consuming experience so any potential neighborhood watch leaders will need to bear this in mind.
Programs begin when a community experiences increased crime rates in the neighborhood. Many programs stop when homeowners notice the crime rate lowering in their community. However, to maintain a low crime rate in the community, the program needs to continue. Criminals will often start to commit crimes in the neighborhood once the program stops. To keep this from happening, communities need to schedule regular meetings, send out community newsletters, and bring new topics to the meetings.
Successful neighborhood watch programs alert authorities of suspicious activities in their communities, actively take part in meetings, neighborhood activities, and recruiting new members. It is not enough for neighborhood watch programs to meet once, and to stick watch signs in their windows. Communities who have passive watch programs will not see their crime rate lowering. Communities that experienced home invasions, rapes, murders, and other street crimes need to include everyone in the area to participate in watch programs.