5 Great Neighborhood Watch Ideas to Help Make Your Community Safer
Home security is a major problem that affects everyone. Apart from installing home security alarms, CCTV cameras, etc., most citizens are organizing their own neighborhood watch groups in order to keep their community safe. A neighborhood watch is a great way to deter and prevent crime from occurring within your community. Homeowners can organize neighborhood watch privately or through a community or neighborhood association. With certain measures, a neighborhood watch can keep the crime off community streets.
Here are 5 tips that will enhance the efficiency of neighborhood watch and help keep your community safer:
1. Gather the Facts to Devise a Strategy
It is recommended that you gather the facts and find out anything you can about the crime in your neighborhood. This includes victim surveys, police reports, and perceptions of neighbors about crime. Once you have all the information, it will be easier for you to devise a neighborhood watch strategy to protect your community.
2. Keep Everyone Updated
Use technology to your advantage. Create a message board or website, or start an email list so that you can keep everyone updated. It would be a good idea to elect a member of the neighborhood watch to maintain the message board and encourage anyone to post any crimes or suspicious activity that were committed. Criminals don’t like to be labeled so this step will be really helpful because if the criminals know that they are being watched and their description is being spread, they are likely to move on to someplace new.
3. Place Neighborhood Watch Signs
It’s a great idea to place ‘neighborhood watch’ signs in your windows. These will work as visual deterrent to criminals. Again, this is a great way to let criminals know that they are being watched and their activities are being reported. In case a crime is committed, the witness will provide a description that will make it easier to track the criminal down if the neighborhood watch has a database of information on him/her.
4. Use Stun Gun Flashlights
A stun gun flashlight is an excellent tool for neighborhood watch group members because not only does it work as a flashlight to assist when you are patrolling at night, it also has an alarm which will be very helpful if someone patrolling the neighborhood feels that they are in danger because they can sound the alarm and alert the others to their location. Lastly, it will also be helpful in stopping an attacker as it is a 200,000-volt stun gun.
5. Involve the Police When Required
Keep in mind that the purpose of neighborhood watch is to deter criminals and keep the community safe. The members of neighborhood watch are not vigilantes. Therefore, if any member on patrol suspects a crime, he should immediately contact the police and tell them what’s going on. If you involve the police, it will be a lot easier to catch the criminal as compared to finding him/her yourself after the crime has been committed.
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