If you are interested in forming a Neighborhood Watch group for your neighborhood, contact your local law enforcement agency's Crime Prevention Department. The officer assigned to this department may come to your neighborhood's association meeting or to an informal gathering of interested neighbors to talk about the Neighborhood Watch program.
Contact your neighbors and invite them to a meeting with the Crime Prevention Officer. During this meeting, neighbors need to determine who will serve as a Block Captain and as one or two co-captains. They will serve as the liaison between the police &/or a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator and your neighbors, passing along information to and from the police or other Neighborhood Watch groups.
After your meeting, the Block Captain should make a list of the neighbor's names, addresses, home & work phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. He or she should then distribute this list to all the neighbors. Find out the names & phone numbers of other Block Captains in your vicinity, if any.
Get to know your neighbors. What vehicles do they drive? Do they work during the day or night? (Important information if you notice a vehicle in their driveway when no one is supposed to be home). If they go on vacation, where can they be contacted in an emergency? Who is allowed to enter the house? Does a friend, relative or neighbor have a spare key? (Handy if an alarm has been activated). When on vacation, will someone be checking on the house and how often? What lights will be on while they're away?
Be a nosy neighbor. Here's a true story: One day a moving van pulled up to a house, backed up to the front door and a couple of men proceeded to empty the house. The next door neighbor assumed that the family was moving out and thought nothing more about it. Later that day, the victimized homeowner came home after work to discover he'd been cleaned-out! Remember, anything that could be trouble or dangerous to your neighborhood is your business!
If your community has a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator, contact that person and give him or her your name & phone number. This person is usually a better liaison with the police and already has lists of Block Captains in other Watch groups in your area. This person will notify a number of Block Captains with relevant information from the police or from other Watch groups. The police are more likely to contact one person, (the coordinator), who will disseminate information to Watch groups rather than contact numerous Block Captains. Do not rely on Neighborhood Watch for all reports of criminal activity, read your local newspaper, listen to your local radio station and talk with people you know.
Determine the best way to inform your neighbors of crime activity. You may want to organize a phone calling system where one neighbor contacts the next, (best in an emergency), or you may want to distribute written information, (best for accuracy). Updates may be sent by e-mail, but sending urgent information by e-mail is not recommended because some people do not check their e-mail for days at a time.
Time Commitment - One never knows when crime will occur. Depending on your community, crime may be an everyday occurrence or maybe months will go by without an incident. Your activity level will depend on the amount of and the type of crime that occurs. Certainly an active Neighborhood Watch group is a strong one and where there are strong groups, there is a lower incident of crime in their area.
Examples of Neighborhood Watch activities:
- distribute safety and crime prevention literature- host meetings, summer BBQ's- welcome new neighbors and invite them to join your group- set up special watch for seniors- select Safe Houses for school children, (a house a child can go to in an emergency)- set up a Vacation Watch, (mow the lawn, collect mail/newspaper of vacationing neighbors)- help victimized neighbors- post Neighborhood Watch signs at the entrance of your neighborhood, decals in windows- set up Operation Identification program, (engrave valuable with your driver's license number, NOT with your Social Security number, police can not trace recovered stolen items with this number)
- contact elected officials with concernsTo contact the Neighborhood Watch Coordinator for Webster Township, click here:
To contact the Washtenaw County Sheriff Department Crime Prevention Services, dial 734-971-4614
