Developing Awareness

Hold Meetings

Periodic meetings of your Neighborhood Watch Group should be used to develop programs to heighten citizen awareness of and proper response to suspected or actual criminal activity. Speakers from the police department as well as from a wide range of community organizations can address such topics as:

• Recognizing suspicious activity and learning how to report it
• Organizing victim assistance programs
• Establishing “safe houses” for children in trouble
• Setting up daily Crime Watch broadcasts, mobilizing scanner owners, and publishing neighborhood newspapers with security tips and updates

Get the Ball Rolling

Once you get started in organizing a Neighborhood Watch, there is virtually no limit to the innovative ways to combat crime and increase the involvement of members of your community. Your neighborhood will not only become safer and more secure but will have the added benefit of neighbors brought closer together, with opportunities to rekindle the sense of community that many areas of the country have lost over the years.

A strong, healthy, united community is one of the strongest deterrents to crime! But it all has to start somewhere. It can start with you, beginning today!