Dickson County Sheriff’s Office

Neighborhood Watch Program

MISSION STATEMENT

"Involving Dickson County Citizens as active partners in crime prevention."

The ABCs of Neighborhood Watch

• Any community resident can join -- young and old, single and married, renter and homeowner.
• 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, and 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, childcare, 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, mail boxes 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, or sitting still for a lengthy period of time with no reason.
• 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.
• Unusual light patterns (neighbor’s light coming on at unusual times, late at night early in the morning indicating problems)

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, and 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 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?

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.  

STARTING A WATCH

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; which 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.

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.

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.  

WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL WATCH?

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.

In order for Crime to occur, three elements must be present. These are

• Desire
• Ability
• Opportunity

These elements of crime are usually depicted in a triangle.

As with any triangle, if a single leg is missing, a triangle cannot be formed. This holds true in regard to crime as well. If any one of these is missing, no crime will occur.

The main objective of Crime Prevention is to reduce the opportunity for crime, thereby reducing the likelihood that crime will occur. In our " Elements of Crime" Triangle, by removing any one of the legs of the triangle, one removes the crime. One can remove the desire to commit a crime by educating. One can remove the ability to commit a crime by incarcerating, and one can remove the opportunity to commit a crime by target hardening. Effective Crime Prevention incorporates all of these things.

Natural Surveillance

·         All doorways that open to the outside should be well lit.

·         The front door should be at least partially visible from the street

·         Windows on all sides of the house provide full visibility of property

·         Sidewalks and all areas of the yard should be well lit

·         The driveway should be visible from either the front or back door and at least one window

·         The front door should be clearly visible from the driveway

·         Properly maintained landscaping provides maximum viewing to and, from the house

·         Landscaping should not create blind spots or hiding spots

·         Open green spaces and recreational areas should be located so that they can be observed from nearby homes

·         Pedestrian scale street lighting should be used in high pedestrian traffic areas

Target Hardening

·         Interior doors that connect a garage to a building should have a single cylinder dead bolt lock

·         Door locks should be located a minimum of 40 inches from adjacent windows

·         Exterior doors should be hinged on the inside and should have a single cylinder dead bolt lock with a minimum one-inch throw

·         New houses should not have jalousie, casement or awning style windows

·         All windows should have locks

·         Sliding glass doors should have one permanent door on the outside; the inside moving door should have a looking device and a pin

 Doors: All exterior doors should be solid (about 4.5 centimeters thick) making it difficult for burglars to break through them. Glass and hollow core doors are not very secure, leaving your home vulnerable. Doorframes should be solid and equipped with a proper strike plate. Any windows within arms-length of a door lock should be Plexiglas or Lexan, instead of glass.

Do not rely on doorknob and handle locks because, for today's burglars, they invite easy access to your home. Install one-inch deadbolt locks on all exterior doors. The single cylinder deadbolt lock is the most common type, operated by a key from the outside and a thumb-turn on the inside.

Patio doors are the most difficult to secure and are undoubtedly the first thing a burglar looks for when scouting out a home to burglarize. Most glass patio doors can simply be lifted out of the tracks - easy prey for even the most unsophisticated burglar. The solution - install metal screws in the upper track to fill the space above the door. This makes it impossible for the door to clear the lower track. Patio doors can also be pinned like windows or locked with commercial locks.

 Windows: Most window locks can be pried open easily. To upgrade security, install secondary locks on all your windows. Nearly all types of windows can be pinned, making it a bit more difficult to gain entry. Commercial pins can be bought, but large nails are also effective and economical.

Drill a 3/16" hole from the inside window frame through the outside frame. Then insert a nail or pin into the hole to secure the window. For sliding aluminum windows, drill the hole from the sliding panel into the stationary panel.

Check for silhouetting when the drapes are drawn. Invest in heavier material if necessary.

 Basement windows are a common entry point for many burglars, especially if bushes or shrubs shield them. If possible, replace the glass windows with Plexiglas or Lexan. Use security bars to secure your basement windows (many of them are available in decorative designs). Be sure to install bars that are removable in case of emergency.

Garage Doors: Some remote garage door openers are standard and open many doors. Customize your remote and opener to ensure you are the only one who can open your garage. Talk to your door's manufacturer to find out how.

Consider keeping your garage door opener and registration/license/insurance documentation separated and away from the vehicle. If this is not practical, consider using whiteout, or blacken-out, to remove the number portion of your street address on your registration and insurance. While you are required to have registration and insurance documentation in the car, most police members will understand if the address numbers (not reg./insurance numbers!) are blackened out. If your car is stolen, criminals will now have your address and garage door opener to access your home (leaving them out-of-sight to access the inner door if available).

Be Creative!!!!! (Try and add your own safety tips)

·        Vary your route to and from work

·        If no one is home during the day put a sign up day sleeper

·        Turn around and look back at the house when leaving and just wave good by.

·        If elderly or living alone lay an old pair of large work boots outside to make a person think there is a large male living there

·        Make it look like someone is at the house at all time (fake person in chair or couch

·        Leave ignition key when having auto work done, don’t leave the house key

Be Secretive

·        Don’t tell the general public that you will be out of town

·        Answering machine messages, don’t leave a message that you are not home

For more information about the Neighborhood Watch Program please contact Dickson County Sheriff’s Office Training Division and speak with Sgt. Jimmy Johnson or Capt. Dwayne Hayes at 789-5850.

 

 

 

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