Neighborhood Watch, Block Watch, Town Watch, Crime Watch,
Community Childwatch -- whatever the
name, it's one of the most effective and least costly ways to prevent crime and
reduce fear. Neighborhood Watch fights the isolation that crime both creates and
feeds upon. It forges bonds among area residents, helps reduce burglaries and
robberies, and improves relations between police and the communities they serve.
Any community resident can join -- young and old, single and married, renter
and home owner.
A few concerned residents, a community organization, or a law enforcement
agency can spearhead the effort to organize a Watch.
Members learn how to make their homes more secure, watch out for each other
and the neighborhood, and report activities that raise their suspicions to the
police or sheriff's office.
You can form a Watch group around any geographical unit: a block, apartment,
park, business area, public housing complex, office, marina.
Watch groups are not vigilantes. They are extra eyes and ears for reporting
crime and helping neighbors. Neighborhood Watch helps build pride and serves as
a springboard for efforts that address community concerns such as recreation for
youth, child care, and affordable housing.
Getting Organized
Forming a Neighborhood Watch is a challenge. Here are a few tips to get your
group started.
Contact the police or sheriff's department or local crime prevention
organization for help in training members in home security and reporting skills
and for information on local crime patterns.
Select a coordinator and block captains who are responsible for organizing
meetings and relaying information to members.
Recruit members, keeping up-to-date on new residents and making special
efforts to involve the elderly, working parents, and young people.
Work with local government or law enforcement to put up Neighborhood Watch
signs, usually after at least 50 percent of all households are enrolled.
Neighbors Look For...
Someone screaming or shouting for help.
Someone looking into windows and parked cars.
Unusual noises.
Property being taken out of closed businesses or houses where no one is at
home.
Cars, vans, or trucks moving slowly with no apparent destination, or without
lights.
Anyone being forced into a vehicle.
A stranger sitting in a car or stopping to talk to a child.
Abandoned cars
Report these incidents to the police or sheriff's department. Talk with your
neighbors about the problem.
How to Report
Give your name and address.
Briefly describe the event -- what happened, when, where, and who was
involved.
Describe the suspect: sex, race, age, height, weight, hair color, clothing,
distinctive characteristics such as beard, mustache, scars, or accent.
Describe the vehicle if one was involved: color, make, model, year, license
plate, and special features such as stickers, dents, or decals.
Staying Alive!
It's an unfortunate fact that when a neighborhood crime crisis goes away, so
does enthusiasm for Neighborhood Watch. Work to keep your Watch group a vital
force for community well-being.
Organize regular meetings that focus on current issues such as drug abuse,
bias-motivated violence, crime in schools, child care before and after school,
recreational activities for young people, and victim services.
Organize community patrols to walk around streets or apartment complexes and
alert police to crime and suspicious activities and identify problems needing
attention. People in cars with cellular phones or CB radios can patrol.
Adopt a park or school playground. Pick up litter, repair broken equipment,
paint over graffiti.
Work with local building code officials to require dead bolt locks, smoke
alarms, and other safety devices in new and existing homes and commercial
buildings. Work with parent groups and schools to start a Community
Child Watch or McGruff House (to help children in emergency situations.)
Publish a newsletter that gives prevention tips and local crime news,
recognizes residents of all ages who have made a difference, and highlights
community events.
Don't forget social events that give neighbors a chance to know each other
-- a block party, potluck dinner, volleyball or softball game, picnic.
Why Organize Your Neighborhood Against Crime? Crime and fear of crime
threaten a community's well-being -- people become afraid to use streets and
parks, suspicion erupts between young and old, shops gradually leave. Crime in
turn feeds on the social isolation it creates. Today's lifestyles -- many homes
where both parents work, more single parent families, and greater job mobility
-- can contribute to this isolation and weaken communities.
You and your neighbors can prevent or break this vicious cycle, and in the
process, build your community into a safer, friendlier, and more caring place to
live. Statistics tell the story. Police and sheriffs' departments in cities,
small towns, and suburbs throughout the country report substantial decreases in
crime and fear due to local crime prevention efforts.
Start with a Neighborhood Watch or block club to address immediate crime
problems, focus on home security, and build neighborhood cohesion. Then move
into other areas such as educating residents about child protection, drug abuse
victim services, and domestic violence. Explore circumstances in the community
that might contribute to crime -- the physical design of buildings, traffic
patterns, drug trafficking, few jobs or recreational opportunities for
teenagers, lack of affordable housing -- and look for long-range solutions.
Neighborhood Watch, Block Watch, Town Watch, Apartment Watch, Crime Watch --
no matter what it's called, this is one of the most effective and least costly
answers to crime. Watch groups are a foundation of community crime prevention,
they can be a stepping stone to community revitalization.
Phase One: Getting Started -- Meetings, Block Captains, and
Maps
Form a small planning committee of neighbors to discuss needs, the level of
interest, possible challenges, and the Watch concept.
Contact the local police or sheriffs' department, or local crime prevention
organization, to discuss Neighborhood Watch and local crime problems. Invite a
law enforcement officer to attend your meeting.
Publicize your meeting at least one week in advance with door-to-door fliers
and follow up with phone calls the day before.
Select a meeting place that is accessible to people with disabilities.
Hold an initial meeting to gauge neighbors' interest; establish purpose of
program; and begin to identify issues that need to be addressed. Stress that a
Watch group is an association of neighbors who look out for each other's
families and property, alert the police to any suspicious activities or crime in
progress, and work together to make their community a safer and better place to
live.
Phase Two: When the neighborhood decides to adopt the
Watch idea
Elect a chairperson.
Ask for block captain volunteers who are responsible for relaying
information to members on their block, keeping up-to-date information on
residents, and making special efforts to involve the elderly, working parents,
and young people. Block captains also can serve as liaisons between the
neighborhood and the police and communicate information about meetings and crime
incidents to all residents.
Establish a regular means of communicating with Watch members—e.g.,
newsletter, telephone tree, e-mall, fax, etc.
Prepare a neighborhood map showing names, addresses, and phone numbers of
participating households and distribute to members. Block captains keep this map
up to date, contacting newcomers to the neighborhood and rechecking occasionally
with ongoing participants. With guidance from a law enforcement agency, the
Watch trains its members in home security techniques, observation skills, and
crime reporting. Residents also learn about the types of crime that affect the
area.
If you are ready to post Neighborhood Watch signs, check with law enforcement
to see if they have such eligibility requirements as number of houses that
participate in the program. Law enforcement may also be able to provide your
program with signs. If not, they can probably tell you where you can order them.
Organizers and block captains must emphasize that Watch groups are not
vigilantes and do not assume the role of the police. They only ask neighbors to
be alert, observant, and caring—and to report suspicious activity or crimes
immediately to the police.
The Watch concept is adaptable. There are Park Watches, Apartment Watches,
Window Watches, Boat Watches, School Watches, Realtor Watches, Utility Watches,
and Business Watches. A Watch can be organized around any geographic unit.
Tips for Success
Hold regular meetings to help residents get to know each other and to
collectively decide upon program strategies and activities.
Consider linking with an existing organization, such as a citizens'
association, community development office, tenants' association, housing
authority.
Canvas door-to-door to recruit members.
Involve everyone -- young and old, single and married, renter and homeowner.
Gain support from the police or sheriffs' office. This is critical to a Watch
group's credibility. These agencies are the major sources of information on
local crime patterns, home security, other crime prevention education, and crime
reporting.
Get the information out quickly. Share all kinds of news -- quash rumors.
Gather the facts about crime in your neighborhood. Check police reports, do
victimization surveys, and learn residents' perceptions about crime. Often
residents' opinions are not supported by facts, and accurate information can
reduce fear of crime.
Physical conditions like abandoned cars or overgrown vacant lots contribute
to crime. Sponsor cleanups, encourage residents to beautify the area, and ask
them to turn on outdoor lights at night.
It's essential to celebrate the success of the effort and recognize
volunteers' contributions through such events as awards, annual dinners, and
parties. To help meet community needs, Neighborhood Watches can sponsor meetings
that address broader issues such as drug abuse, gangs, self-protection tactics,
isolation of the elderly, crime in the schools, and rape prevention.
Don't forget events like National Night Out (bookmark our Events Calendar) or
a potluck dinner that gives neighbors a chance to get together. Such items as
pins, t-shirts, hats, or coffee mugs with the group's name also enhance identity
and pride.
When crime drops or the neighborhood problem is alleviated, some Watch
programs slowly lose momentum. To keep a Neighborhood Watch program vital, blend
crime prevention into other community concerns.
Have your Watch group identify the neighborhood's strengths and problems and
then brainstorm on what members can do to improve the quality of community life.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Encourage schools to teach crime and drug prevention in the classroom.
Cooperate with parent associations, recreation departments, and schools to
organize after-school programs for children and teens.
Start a block parent program to help children cope with emergencies while
walking to and from school or playing in the area. These programs can be a
reliable source of help for children in emergency or frightening situations.
Volunteers must meet specific standards, including a law enforcement records
check. Programs are established locally as a partnership among law enforcement,
schools, and community organizations.
Spearhead a Gang or Violence Prevention Task Force to assess those problems
and develop prevention strategies or solutions.
Translate crime and drug prevention materials into Spanish or other
languages needed by non-English speakers in your community.
Get a local Boys & Girls Club or other youth organization to help the
elderly with marking valuables, enhancing home security, or going to the store.
In turn, senior citizens can help youth with such needs as tutoring or
recreational programs, oral history projects, or cooking classes.
Turn a vacant lot into a park, playground, playing field, or community
garden.
Work with small businesses to repair rundown storefronts, clean up littered
streets, and create jobs for young people.
Link up with victim services to train your members in assisting victims of
crime.
Recruit utility workers, cab drivers, and other people with two-way radios or
cellular phones to extend your Neighborhood Watch network.
Ask people who seldom leave their houses to be "Window Watchers,"
looking out for children and any unusual activities in the neighborhood.
Encourage businesses to hold lunch-time crime and drug prevention seminars
and special events for employees and their families.
Sponsor a crime and drug prevention fair at a shopping mall or community
center.
Get banks and other businesses to include crime prevention tips in their
statements and bills.
Work with local media -- newspapers, radio, TV stations -- to publicize
events and thank supporters.
Sponsor a seminar for the elderly and others on how to avoid becoming
victims of con games and fraud.
Get a local theater group to produce a play teaching children how to protect
themselves from violence, drug abuse, or other crime.
Work with the telephone company or local schools to teach children how to
use 9-1-1 or other emergency numbers.
Establish a "buddy" system for the elderly and people with
disabilities, in which someone checks with them daily by phone and summons help
if needed.
Link Neighborhood Watch to efforts promoted by other groups: drug
prevention, child protection, antivandalism projects, arson prevention,
neighborhood cleanup, recycling. Share resources and promote each other's
activities. Invite guest speakers to Neighborhood Watch meetings.
Publicize your program and its successes in local media ranging from civic
association newsletters to local radio shows to television.
Start a community crime prevention newsletter. Block captains or volunteers
(including kids and teenagers) can distribute the newsletter, which also helps
them keep in touch with residents.
Work with businesses to develop a Business Watch program. Ask them to help
pay for fliers and a newsletter, provide meeting places, and distribute crime
prevention information.
Typically, Neighborhood Watch groups organize to respond to an immediate
threat -- a series of rapes, a sharp increase in burglaries, rising fear of
street crime. Often, when the crisis is resolved, membership and commitment to
the Watch start to fade away. After all, why keep looking out for criminals if
they've been arrested or gone elsewhere?
This short-sighted attitude ignores key benefits of the contemporary
Neighborhood Watch -- a Watch group empowers people to prevent crime, forges
bonds between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and builds a
foundation for broader community improvement. Neighborhood Watch is far more
than a quick fix for an immediate crisis -- it can be a moving force for
positive changes that tackle root causes of crime.
Why Do Some Neighborhood Associations Thrive and Others Die?
In the mid-1980s, the Citizens Committee of New York City (CCNYC), with
funding from the Ford Foundation, undertook the Block Booster Project, a
two-year study of relationships among block associations, crime, and community
development. The study found that active block associations substantially
reduced fear of crime, encouraged crime reporting, stimulated members'
involvement in crime prevention, inhibited drug trafficking, and spurred
beautification activities. According to Project Director David Chavis,
"Block associations weave a tight social fabric and have a profound effect
on the sense of community and the way people help each other."
The Block Booster Project also examined why some groups thrived while other
withered and died. Use of resources emerged as the key factor. Active, healthy
block groups had the same resources as inactive ones, but they used them more
effectively. Here are key survival tactics discovered by the Block Booster
Project:
Spell out roles and responsibilities of the association and its members.
Adopt bylaws and elect officers.
Decentralize planning and work. Delegate tasks and establish standing
committees.
Keep in touch with members. Use personal contacts, in and outside of
meetings. Distribute a newsletter to communicate regularly with members.
Plan for and train new leaders. Don't burn out existing ones.
Mobilize collective resources and use them. Know members' skills and
personal and business contacts. Be realistic about how many people you need to
do a job.
Use outside resources, such as government agencies and community-based
organizations.
Strike a balance between business and pleasure. Conduct business meetings on
time and efficiently, but have a time for socializing before or after the
meeting.
Involve all elements in the community -- single parents, renters as well as
homeowners, teenagers, senior citizens, business owners and managers.
Extending the Scope of Neighborhood Watch
Successful Neighborhood Watches move beyond the basics of home security,
watching out for suspicious activities, and reporting them to law enforcement.
They sponsor community cleanups, find solutions to local traffic problems,
collect clothing and toys for homeless families, organize after-school
activities for young people, help victims of crime, tutor teens at risk of
dropping out of school, reclaim playgrounds from drug dealers, and for task
forces that influence policymakers.
Looking for Leaders
A Neighborhood Watch's effectiveness depends heavily on its leaders. Good
block captains usually:
Are reliable.
Get along well with people.
Have good communication and negotiating skills.
Do not view the position as a power trip or a chance for personal gain.
Are willing to delegate tasks and listen to others' opinions.
Are organized and can conduct meetings efficiently.
Don't get discouraged easily.
Don't stop at prevention -- have a long-range vision for community
improvement.
Motivating Volunteers and Leaders
Hold special training events. Look to police departments, community action
and social service organizations, religious institutions, colleges, business
associations, schools, and youth organizations for help.
Provide public recognition through awards and articles in newsletters and
newspapers.
Issue certificates of appreciation from the mayor or chief law enforcement
executive.
Organize a coalition of Neighborhood Watch captains so leaders can learn
from each other and join forces to address community-wide issues.
Always look for emerging issues that could affect the community's quality of
life.
Mobilizing Community Resources
Community businesses and organizations offer numerous resources for crime
prevention programs. Look to:
Religious institutions for meeting space, copying machines, and access to
volunteers.
Service clubs and businesses for partnerships in fundraising initiatives.
Libraries for research materials, videos, computers, and meeting space.
Printing companies for free or discounted services for newsletters, fliers,
and certificates.
Parent groups and labor unions for advice on organizing and recruiting
volunteers.
Local media for publicity.
Senior centers and schools for facilities and equipment.
An effective tool for some Neighborhood Watch programs to use is a citizen
patrol. It is up to the community in conjunction with law enforcement to decide
whether a patrol is needed. Citizen patrols are volunteers who walk or drive an
area on a regular basis to report incidents and problems to the police and
provide a visible presence that deters criminal activity. They have no policing
powers, carry no weapons, are non-confrontational, and always coordinate
activities with law enforcement. A citizen patrol can cover a neighborhood, an
apartment lobby or complex, a business district, or a park; some use bicycles,
in-line skates, or cars to cover larger areas. They contact the police
dispatcher through two-way radios or cellular phones donated by a local
business. Cameras or video equipment may be used to record suspicious activity.
Many patrols are based in a Neighborhood Watch program or work closely with one.
A good resource for your citizen patrol is the Community Policing Consortium.
They will work with your local cellular phone carrier to arrange for phones to
be donated to your program
Make sure your citizen patrol:
Undergoes training by law enforcement and have their support;
Works in teams;
Wears identifying clothing -- t-shirts, caps, vests, jackets -- or
reflective clothing or patches;
Never carries weapons of any kind -- e.g., guns, black jacks, mace, baseball
bats, or knives;
Never challenges anyone;
Always carries a pad and pencil, and a flashlight if it is dark;
Is courteous and helpful to residents of the area being patrolled; and
Keeps logs and files reports with the local law enforcement agency.
Remember that citizen patrols can take on extra duties, such as escort
services, crowd and traffic control at community events, identifying
neighborhood nuisance concerns, monitoring graffiti sites, checking on homebound
residents, and reporting abandoned vehicles.
A healthy neighborhood effort will endeavor to involve all members of the
community. If you are interested in tapping the energy of your neighborhood's
youth, you will find that the results are well worth the effort. Here are some
ideas for engaging the attention and interests of youth.
Like any program, one targeting youth should follow a basic development cycle
-- a process that is systematic and ongoing:
Assessing the community's needs
Planning the program
Lining up resources
Acting on the plan
Nourishing, monitoring, and evaluating....and back to number one
Within this basic cycle, experience has shown youth involvement at all
stages to be a necessary ingredient for generating interest, enthusiasm, and
results. The degree of involvement can vary -- from adults presenting young
people with a series of options in the planning stage to adolescents identifying
needs and designing programs with minimal adult guidance. In all cases
partnership, not paternalism, is the by-word.
Project Ideas for Youth
Victim assistance
Discussions
Graffiti Prevention
Warm Lines
Adopt-An-Elder
Plays
Puppet Shows
Teaching
Community Clean-Ups
Murals
Forging Partnerships With Young People
For a program to truly benefit teens and the community, it should:
Have a plan to attract participants and supporters. Involve teens at all
levels of the project -- planning, fundraising, carrying out the project,
evaluating.
Address a problem or issue perceived as important by teens.
Offer opportunities for teens to make their own decisions and cope with the
consequences. Include a learning component.
Earn the community's respect.
Promote responsibility and enhance self-esteem.
Encourage participation of all teens, not just those who are easily
motivated.
Build on teens' need for friendship -- a central theme in adolescents' daily
life.
The Adult Role
The adult partner in any teen program will function with the less frustration
and most influence by abandoning the role of director and assuming the role of
mentor and resource person. The following suggest suggestions should help in
this transformation:
Stress the collaborative nature of the program in the needs assessment and
design stages.
Move to action as quickly as possible.
Get to know each teen in your program and listen to his or her opinions,
concerns, ideas. Assess his or her strengths, talents, and interests.
Teach and guide teens as the program proceeds. Don't withdraw when the
activities get underway, but shift as much as possible to being a participant
rather than the leader.
Help teens to secure community resources and support.
Provide opportunities for teens to reflect on and evaluate their experiences
with the program.
Reward and recognize personal growth and other accomplishments.
Demonstrate respect for teens' abilities and contributions.
The United States has experienced a dramatic increase in cultural and ethnic
diversity in the last decade. According to the 1990 census, 19.7 million persons
-- just under 8% of the population -- were foreign-born. Never before have so
many immigrants lived in this country. This wave of immigration has spread
unevenly throughout the nation, with the Northeast and West experiencing far
greater increases in foreign-born residents than the Midwest and South.
Organizing a Neighborhood Watch in a multicultural community poses unique
challenges -- recent immigrants may not speak English, and many may still be
adjusting to life in this country. Disputes or misunderstandings can erupt
between neighbors of different cultures, races, and ethnic backgrounds. Cultural
conflicts arise because two groups of people have established different values,
different standards of acceptable behavior, different traditions and
communication patterns, and different ideas about such things as dress and
attitude. Often, the hardest thing for everyone to learn is that different does
not equal wrong or improper.
When working with individuals raised in different cultures, you need to
consider such things as:
Their length of time in the United States
English or other language skills
Possible distrust of law enforcement, stemming from a fear of people in
uniform and in government offices based on experiences in their native country
Educational level and social class (especially the social class in the
native country for immigrants and first-generation residents)
Role expectations for males and females, parents, grandparents, and children
Religious and ethical values
Rules and expectations for interpersonal relationships
Ways to share and get to know cultural differences: international potluck
suppers, international youth performances, international music, oral histories
by elders
When You Start To Organize
Determine the ethnic groups of non-English speaking residents and what
languages they speak. Then look to local government agencies, private advocacy
and service organizations, religious institutions, mediation services, and other
groups experienced in dealing with immigrants for help. A translator is
essential when you hold a Neighborhood Watch or crime prevention meeting --
learn to speak slowly and establish rapport with the translator. Print materials
in different languages if possible.
Don't be discouraged. In talking about his efforts to organize Neighborhood
Watch presentations in ethnically diverse Modesto, California, crime prevention
officer David Huckaby says, "It's tough, but Asians -- Cambodians, Lao, and
Hmong -- and Hispanics are very interested in crime prevention
information."
No one thinks drug dealers are good neighbors -- not the people who live in
the neighborhood, not the businesses trying to make a living there, not the
children who play in the parks, not the police officers who patrol the area.
Taking back the streets and making them safer takes hard work, trust, and
courage from all these people.
The law is on your side, but it works best when everyone with a stake in the
neighborhood's health works together. Use partnerships with police, businesses,
and local government to drive illegal drugs from your streets.
Getting Organized
Create a group -- call it an advisory commission, task force, neighborhood
committee, or partnership. Make sure it includes residents, business owners, law
enforcement, housing and other local agencies, religious groups, youth centers,
schools, senior citizen centers, public housing managers.
At the first get-together, let everyone talk about their concerns, even if
that means criticizing the police and other city services.
Decide on what problems take top priority (for example, other than drugs,
these might include vandalism, rape, burglary, auto theft, or prostitution).
Discuss realistic solutions, develop specific short- and long-term projects, and
take action -- forging bonds among the community partners along the way.
Involve young people -- if they are part of the problem, they've got to be
part of the solution.
Look at Laws
Asset forfeiture laws say that authorities can seize assets from convicted
drug dealers -- cars, jewelry, cash, real estate, sell them, and use the money
to support drug abuse prevention, enforcement, and treatment programs.
Nuisance abatement laws allow individuals and government attorneys to bring
suit in civil court against property owners who let drugs be used or kept on
their property or permit other nuisances, such as graffiti or excessive noise.
Penalties include fines, closing the building, and liens against the property.
Drug-free school zone laws set stiffer penalties for drug offenses committed
in areas next to schools. Communities can adapt these laws to expand the
drug-free zone idea to parks and other public spaces.
Neighbors can take property owners to small claims court to recover damages
inflicted on the neighborhood. When individual residents from the neighborhood
all sue the property owners, damages quickly add up and owners clean up their
act.
Drug paraphernalia laws prohibit the possession, manufacture, distribution,
and advertising of drug paraphernalia.
Anti-loitering ordinances can provide another tool to break up drug markets.
Go to the Police
Ask for more police patrols (especially foot patrols) in areas that are
known drug markets. Perhaps a mini-station could be opened in your community.
Install a 24-hour telephone line that people can call to report suspicious
activity anonymously to law enforcement or public housing security officers.
Make sure everyone knows about the line. Use volunteers or an answering machine
to take the calls. (This in not a 9-1-1 emergency line.)
Work with a community organization to hand out "hot spot" cards.
Residents can anonymously identify drug houses or markets on the cards and turn
them in, and the organization then passes the information on to the police.
Go to the Government
Public housing agencies often have tough policies for quickly evicting
tenants found with drugs. Make sure they enforce these rules, working in
cooperation with other concerned tenants and law enforcement. Some cities'
public housing rules evict tenants whose activities or visitors' behavior
seriously disrupt other residents' quality of life.
Drug houses are often rundown properties. Ask fire, health, and housing
departments to investigate drug houses for code violations and shut down these
hazardous properties if possible. Piles of trash, broken windows and doors,
rats, and cars that don't run violate most city housing and health codes.
Urge government to tear down abandoned buildings or sell them to civic
organizations who can rehabilitate them.
Some cities, with a neighborhood's approval, have put up barriers across
intersections that create a maze of dead-end streets and make life very
difficult for drug dealers. Check with the government department that handles
traffic and roads.
Find out who's responsible for towing abandoned cars in your area. Report
the abandoned vehicles in your neighborhoods, and report again and again until
action is taken. Young people in the neighborhood can help.
Do the same for broken street lights, graffiti, cracked pavements, and trash
removal.
Go to Businesses
Property owners can give police permission to enter private property, such
as parking lots or outside stairs, to investigate and possibly arrest loiterers.
Telephone companies can fix pay phones so they can be used only for calls
out -- then, drug dealers can't use them to conduct business.
Utility companies can investigate gas and electric connections that drug
houses may be using illegally.
Property owners can rewrite their leases to include specific bans on illegal
drug activity.
1. Work with public agencies and other organizations -
neighborhood-based or community-wide - on solving common problems. Don't be shy
about letting them know what your community needs. 2. Make sure that all the youth in the neighborhood have positive ways to
spend their spare time, through organized recreation, tutoring programs,
part-time work, and volunteer opportunities. 3. Set up a Neighborhood Watch or a community patrol, working with
police. Make sure your streets and homes are well lighted. 4. Build a partnership with police, focused on solving problems instead
of reacting to crises. Make it possible for neighbors to report suspicious
activity or crimes without fear of retaliation. 5. Take advantage of "safety in numbers" to hold rallies,
marches, and other group activities to show you're determined to drive out crime
and drugs. 6. Clean up the neighborhood! Involve everyone - teens, children, senior
citizens. Graffiti, litter, abandoned cars, and run-down buildings tell
criminals that you don't care about where you live or each other. Call the city
public works department and ask for help in cleaning up. 7. Ask local officials to use new ways to get criminals out of your
building or neighborhood. These include enforcing anti-noise laws, housing
codes, health and fire codes, anti-nuisance laws, and drug-free clauses in
rental leases. 8. Form a Court Watch to help support victims and witnesses and to see
that criminals get fairly punished. 9. Work with schools to establish drug-free, gun-free zones; work with
recreation officials to do the same for parks. 10. Develop and share a phone list of local organizations that can
provide counseling, job training, guidance, and other services that neighbors
might need.
The Basics
