Keeping It Safe
by Jonathan Gilligan
We are planning a formal neighborhood watch kickoff sometime after the next SHNA meeting, but can't wait for the formal meeting to get started with the neighborhood watch.
I have posted a file to the SHNA-CrimeWatch google group of an information packet I received at the Nashville Neighborhoods Resource Center leadership training session on crime prevention. The file is called, "Crime Prevention Training Packet." It contains a lot of good information:
* How a neighborhood watch works
* How to report a crime
* A copy of the tresspass waiver form for property owners and business owners to file with the police to allow them to stop and question anyone found trespassing on a property
* A list of online sources of crime data.
What we need to do now is for those volunteer block-captains who want to get started to introduce themselves to their neighbors and announce that we're starting a neighborhood watch.
Each block captain should try to establish contact with about 10 houses immediately near yours (basically 5 houses on each side of the street). A "block" in this sense is a block of houses, not a block in the sense of running all the way from one street to another. It's good if the houses in the block can all see one another.
Introduce yourself to your your neighbors and tell them that if they see something suspicious they can report to you and it will get to the police. They can do this anonymously if they want. Also, if they want to know what the police are doing about a problem in the neighborhood, you can pass requests for information to me and I will pursue them with Lt. Pylkas and Sgt. Tripp. It's also a good idea to tell neighbors that you can keep an eye on each other's houses when someone is away, to prevent burglaries.
You don't need to ask your neighbors to formally "join" the neighborhood watch. Simply say that you're there for them to call if they have any concerns. You do not have to tell me (the NHW director) the names of the people reporting to you. People may want to remain anonymous and a block watch can work perfectly if the director only knows the names of the block captains and the block captains are the only ones who know the names of the people reporting to them. On the other hand, if some of the people reporting to you want to be more involved in the neighborhood watch and want to come to public meetings that's even better, but it's not at all necessary for the NHW to work.
One former block captain used to write a letter explaining that she was a block captain, briefly describing the neighborhood watch, and inviting neighbors to contact her with information about suspicious activities. She also invited neighbors to introduce themselves and share their phone numbers or email addresses so she could pass along warnings of criminal activities in the neighborhood and so neighbors could help keep an eye on each other's houses.
Be creative and do what seems best for your particular part of the neighborhood. Don't do things that will put you in danger, like confronting gang members or drug dealers directly. That's what the police do. But we can keep an eye on the neighborhood and give the police as much information as possible to help them.
Keep me posted about what you're doing. As we develop the neighborhood watch, I will ask you to be careful about protecting the anonymity of people who give you information. DO NOT POST OTHER PEOPLE'S NAMES TO THE SHNA-CRIMEWATCH LIST WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION!!!
Criminals can retaliate against people they think are "snitching" so if someone tells you something, treat it as confidential unless they give you permission to use their name.
* Don't post names and addresses of witnesses or victims on this email list.
* Do post addresses of suspected drug houses and other sites of criminal activity, but let's protect the privacy and anonymity of innocent witnesses and victims.
If you are a block captain, you do not need to tell me the names of people on your "block"
If you email me information, I will pass things along to the police, but I will edit out specific names of witnesses, victims, and addresses of the innocent (including your own identifying information) unless you explicitly tell me that it's all right for me to tell the police who you are. If anyone sends me information to pass along to the police, my standard procedure is to write the police that "A person in the neighborhood reports..." and to avoid using gender-specific pronouns, so they won't even know whether it's a male or female reporting the incident.
I am going to do my best to coordinate everything as neighborhood watch director. If there is anything you think I should be doing that I'm not doing, or if you think I'm doing a bad job or that I could be doing a better job, please let me know. I am new at this job and constructive criticism is the best way for me to learn.
If anyone sees problems with the information and advice I have provided here, please let me know.
As we get this off the ground, we will have infrequent public meetings of the neighborhood watch, where anyone can come, and we will have more frequent meetings or email consultations among the block captains. I don't want to make your lives miserable with too many meetings to attend, but I want to make sure we have clear lines of communication about crime and crime fighting and that you feel that I am accountable to you and responding to what you need.
Jonathan Gilligan
SHNA Neighborhood Watch Director
For those who are new, here's some helpful information: