Excerpts from: _The Cambridge Safe Neighborhoods Initiative Organising Packet_, "Suggestions for Organising a Neighborhood Watch" (pp 15-18), available from the Office of The City Manager (info: 349-4300), (c) Jan'92, and (c) revised edition Jun'92, reproduced here without permissions. Suggestions for Organising a Neighborhood Watch (For information on current Neighborhood Block Watch Programs ... call the Cambridge Police Community Relations Department: 349-3318). In planning a neighborhood watch, residents might want to consider three basic organising strategies: newsletters, telephone chains and neighborhood walks. While some groups have found it helpful to use one method, many neighborhoods have adopted these and other approaches in an effort to cope with their local crime problems while creating friendships and community. Newsletters and Telephone Chains [this page seems so obvious I've skipped x-scribing it here] NEIGHBORHOOD WALKS Like the telephone chain, the neighborhood walk can alert people to suspicious activities in the area at once. Usually a group of neighbors will stroll through the neighborhood together and as they walk they look out for unusual activities. This can be an enjoyable way to get some excercise and talk to neighbors. Burglars love deserted streets. Just the presence of people in the area will deter them, especially when the people appear to be relaxed and observant. Familiarity with your neighbors is the best way to build a safer neighborhood. If suspicious activities do occur, residents should notify police immediately and alert other neighbors. Once everyone is notified, they can observe the activity and provide police with information to help them respond. TEN ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES OF BLOCKWATCH ORGANISING Based on the experiences of an array of blockwatch efforts in Cambridge and around the country, the following principles have been found to be amongst the most critical. Making these elements part of your whole approach should help to avoid the most common pitfalls and build a strong and secure neighborhood. The First Element: A Broad Base of Watchful Neighbors 1. Always make neighbor-to-neighbor support central to your blockwatch campaign. Even if you spend many hundreds of dollars on alarms and other security hardware, if no one is watching out for you or your [home], it won't help. Organise at the [level of the] smallest natural components of a neighborhood (for example: individual blocks or apartment building floors); also build blockwatch efforts among those who can share responsibility for watching vulnerable spaces in the neighborhood (for example: an alley running between two sets of backyards; a park; a street-corner hangout; a bus stop). 2. The broader the base of neighbors involved in the blockwatch, the greater the security. Make every effort to build on their common concern about crime. Don't dismiss certain segments of your community even those who dismiss your efforts at first. Even the more passive neighbors and the "non-joiner" can be watchful, especially if they realise that others are watching out for them. Also, build existing organisations (for example: senior citizens, youth groups, multi-cultural groups, church congregations) into your efforts. If an existing civic organisation can serve as a base for blockwatch activities, this can be better than starting a new organisation. Include people whose first language is not English, and figure out ways to have notices and meetings translated. 3. People get involved and stay involved in community crime prevention for many personal reasons. Do not expect everyone to have the same level of motivation to "reduce crime" per se. Try to understand each person's motives and needs, and involve them in ways which satisfy those personal needs. Also "fear of crime" does not motivate people to get involved. Make sure your activities walk the sometimes fine line between increasing people's personal awareness without raising their level of fear. 4. Build a reliable communication network through telephone chains, the media, newsletter, posters, as well as, word-of-mouth. Specific people should assume responsibility for making sure that whatever combination of communication methods you choose continues to function smoothly. 5. Don't assume that the perception of "the crime problem" by yourself or a few neighbors matches the perceptions of the larger neighborhood (or of the crime statistics). Your blockwatch will be stronger if it addresses the crime problem that concerns the largest number of residents. 6. Make sure that your organisation's agenda has room for other neighborhood improvement items. As crime recedes on the block [:-)] solving these other important issues will help maintain interest in the association and serve as a reason for continuing to function. Crime prevention alone can become monotonous. Residents are generally concerned about the total quality of living and want to take up those issues which are most important and timely. At all times, crime prevention should be a significant part of the agenda. 7. Allow plenty of room in your activities for socialising (and food). These are strong motivations that both keep people involved and strengthen the blockwatch activities. Getting to know one another strengthens commitment to each watch out for each other. With neighborliness or friendship comes greater commitment to each other and concern for each other. The Third Element: Leadership [nb: "The Second Element" not called out in original text] 8. Resist the impulse to do tasks yourself when you could recruit others to do them. You won't help your blockwatch if you burn out; equally as bad, you won't have others who have learned to take resonsibility when you are not able to. Moreover, people become invested in the organisation if they can get satisfaction out of their contributions. 9. A successful blockwatch organisation needs to have many tasks done. Different people are suited to assume different responsibilities. Anticipate the need for new people to take on new responsibilities or to replace others, and groom them as future leaders. Build into the blockwatch setup ways of insuring this from the beginning. 10. A neighborhood blockwatch cannot replace the police. Experience has shown that even when relationships between the community and the police are at a low point, an organised neighborhood can bring about greater responsiveness from the police. Let the police know you exist and what you are doing. Work with police leadership. Solicit their assistance in developing and carrying out your strategy for tackling particular crime problems. Many police officers welcome, or at the very least, respect community residents who are organised and take responsibility. You become more than just strange faces on the street. Finally, commend them, as well as criticize them, when appropriate. Six Basic Blockwatch Set-Ups: 1. Stay Alert: Simply stated, know what is going on around you. Above all, please do not lose your sense of humor. 2. Window watching: Every day, off-and-on, look out your window and notice for example, any starnge car or truck, people, etc, near your home or your neighbor's place. You're not being nosey; you're being concerned for others and yourself for a safer neighborhood. 3. Telephone Network: Try to get at least one or two phone numbers of neighbors living next door, in back, or across from you. Between you two, or three neighbors, you can tell if anyone is around your property or theirs. In short - four or two paris of eyes are better than one - you understand. 4. Front-and-Back Door Watch: From time-to-time open and stand in your front or back doorway - look around, like up the street or across. If you notice someone or something that seems strange and it's near your home, call your neighbor on the phone and if possible, call another one too. Have them come to their particular doorway and check it out. Often strangers looking over different homes leave quickly when folks come to their doors or windows and start looking the stranger over. 5. Neighbor Trust: Human nature being what it is, some folks find, even though they are neighbors, their neighbors are not very neighborly. Hence, try to trust at least one good neighbor with your house keys and your movements so that, in the event of an emergency or wahtever, they will know what's happening no matter where you are. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing and it's not out of your reach. 6. Common Sense: Cool heads prevail - do not panic or let your imagination run away (with you) no matter what happens. If your home should ever be robbed or windows broken, or whatever, go to your neighbor's home first, then call police. Remain until the police arrive before you attempt to enter your home. A home or furnishings can be replaced; but a life - now that's something that can last a long time - provided one uses that good-old common sense. -------- eof;