Neighborhood Watch is one of the oldest and most effective
crime prevention programs in the country. They bring citizens of the
neighborhood together to prevent crime and keep the communities safer. When you
are buying a home it is a good idea to look for communities that participate in
this kind of preventive measures. Same goes for if you are selling a home,
having an organization such as this really resonates with prospective buyers.
Having a neighborhood watch in your community doesn’t work by altering the
criminal’s motivations or behaviors; it simply reduces the opportunity for
crime to occur.
Consider starting up a group in your neighborhood if one
doesn’t already exist. You can elect helpers to go door to door recruiting
members, hold meetings, and even sponsor a crime prevention fair at a church,
shopping mall, or nearby community center. Have a translator help translate the
information to the Spanish speaking people of the community as well as any
other language.
Once you have a decent amount of volunteers to help run this
program you can start assigning each member a different task. For the people
who don’t leave their house much, you can give them the duty of ‘window
watchers’. Just by peeking outside every so often and keeping an eye out for the
children or reporting any unusual activity can help tremendously. Schedule
neighborhood walks/drives throughout the day, when there are civilians in plain
view there is a less likely a chance for a crime to occur. Create flyers to
post around the neighborhood and in mailboxes. The more aware everyone is of
this program the better, it scares off any potential criminal from acting out.
Also, putting signs in your lawn or near your front door, perhaps even a sticker
on the window that says “This house is protected by Neighborhood Watch” wouldn’t
be such a bad idea.
Educating young children about how to cope with emergencies
is very important. Sponsor clean ups in the area and try to reduce the amount
of abandoned cars, trash, and vacant lots in the area. Talk to neighbors and
members of the community about holding monthly meetings and distributing
newsletters. Whatever action, big or small, that you take to reduce the crime
in your area, will help to make your community a safe and desirable place to
live, whether it’s for you or the person you’re selling a home to.