Cedar Management Group Blog
Many community members feel secure in knowing that they know most if not all of their neighbors, and may easily recognize any strangers who may be lurking around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, you can't always rely on our personal eyes to evaluate the safety of the community, which is why The Neighborhood Watch program is so effective. It's a great way to get the community involved in crime prevention and elimination. Who knows better, what is going on in the community than the residents that live there?
The National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) started the National Neighborhood Watch Program in 1972. This program was developed in response to requests from Sheriffs and Police Chiefs nationwide wanting a crime prevention program based on citizen participation to help combat burglary. This program allows community members with strong leadership skills, who wish to enhance their community involvement to collaborate in keeping an eye out for the lowering of crime in and surrounding the community. Some of the responsibilities of the members of the program include:
- Chairperson - Liaison between the community and the police department.
- Block Captains - Facilitates the flow of information between their neighbors and the Chairperson.
- Residents - Actively observe their surroundings and notify their neighbors and Block Captain when they notice something suspicious.
Residents in the community can work with the police department to reduce crime and to improve the quality of life, which is something that money could truly not buy. This program allows residents in the community to take on a leadership role and accept responsibility for their community. By having the community comes together to discuss their concerns, this will lead to developing a plan of action that addresses those concerns.
While in a perfect world this program would ideally completely create a perfectly safe neighborhood, we unfortunately do not live in one. Therefore we must stress a few things that this program certainly is not. This program is not a vigilante force, which attempts to work outside the normal procedures of law enforcement. We also urge the community members to take extreme precaution when in a questionable situation, taking personal risks to prevent a crime is not what this program is about. And as stated above, this program is not a miracle, therefore there is no 100% guarantee that crime will not occur in your neighborhood as a result, but a reduction of the crime rate is certainly within reach.
