Neighborhood Watch Proposal
Neighborhood Watch Proposal
Introduction A Neighborhood Watch Program is a community-implemented program that assists with preventing crime. This program was started in the 1970’s by the National Sheriff’s Association to encourage members of various communities to observe and report on suspicious activities within their neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Watch Program’s purpose is to improve safety within a neighborhood. Providing a study on communities that are utilizing the Neighborhood Watch Programs will give insight into a neighborhood that should be able to come together to fight against crime and attempt to retake their community from criminals. This proposal will promote some
…show more content…
Neighborhood watch meetings may be held in places such as a local high school gym, a community center, or even in a resident’s home.
The Benefits of a Neighborhood Watch Program Resource programs implemented through a neighborhood watch would be beneficial to public safety and help to unite citizens with public safety officials. The two groups would have the opportunity to work together and combine their individual strengths and knowledge. This joining of the two would help to improve the lifestyle within the community and allow for issues occurring in these urban areas to be addressed. Assistance from the police department would also help the effectiveness of the program because law enforcement would build a partnership with the community’s members. Residents of the community will have more faith in the safety of their neighborhood as well as restore their faith in the police officers working with them. Other departments play an active role within the neighborhood watch programs; the department of transportation, the fire department, city council, and animal control departments. If these departments would unite and accept responsibility in eliminating and decreasing the crime issues within the community, residents’ fears would be reduced and they would aid in improving the quality of life significantly. The residents in the community will eventually start to view the city and public safety officers as being
“Community policing is, in essence, a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994, p. vii). Throughout the years, community policing has become a more popular strategy to help law enforcement officials control and deter crime; however, some areas across the United States has had problems in the past with communities and law enforcement working together to ensure a secure and safe environment. Although it is an officer’s duty to maintain order, keep the peace, and solve problems within the area he or she
Nevertheless, the key to the improvement of the quality of life and perception of crime in these neighborhoods is the officer’s ability to listen to neighbors, working with them to creatively address issues. ROPE is the neighborhood’s liaison with government resources, including the police, providing an immediate link to community policing efforts throughout the City Of Elgin. The identification of neighborhood issues, followed by a coordination of effort lead by the police with City departments, is the key to ROPE success. Each neighborhood poses issues requiring unique solutions. ROPE, in concert with an enhanced department philosophy of community policing, offers an opportunity to benefit neighborhoods across the City of Elgin. Also, the ability to identify a problem and find its solution is one aspect of ROPE that provides both challenges and rewards to the officer and neighbors. The personal contact with the neighborhood is an immeasurable benefit of the program. The program provides a constant challenge to solve problems while living and working in the neighborhood that a resident officer must realize. Scheduling must be flexible, contrary to traditional policing, to allow officers the ability to address quality
Although many may find community policing and problem-oriented policing to fall in the same category, there is (surprisingly) a difference between the two. For one, community policing has many definitions. For some, it means instituting foot and bicycle patrols and doing acts pertaining to the ideal bond between police officers and their community. While for others it means maintaining order and cleaning up neighborhoods in desperate need of repair (Dunham & Alpert, 2005). However, an idyllic definition of community policing is altering the traditional definition of crime control to community problem-solving and promising to transform the way police do their job. Within the past two decades, there has been much research on community
The last sign detailing the neighborhood watch community states that they "report all suspicious persons and activities to their Law Enforcement Agency". This statement aligns
Ted Nugent said people looking out for suspicious behavior are “The purest form of Americans watching out for each other and being good neighbors” (Cover). I agree that people watching the neighborhood is a good thing because they are making sure it is safe for themselves and their children. If someone sees something suspicious they can tell another person so they can call the police while the other person tries to alleviate the problem before it blows out of proportion. If you see someone breaking into another person house, you could call them or the police to notify them showing you are a good
Bement, Illinois is a village where people talk to their neighbors and offer a helping hand in the community. The problem in Bement is that people, ev men are selling drugs at the Piatt County Bement Park. The clear solution to this problem is that the Bement High School Principal Doug Kepley should work with the police officer in town and hold a meeting to start a neighborhood watch for the park so that the people in this small village can feel safe and know that their children aren’t able to easily access drugs.
Zimmerman’s neighborhood watch organization was not registered with the National Neighborhood Watch program, but was set up with the assistance of the Stanford Police Department. Donald O
Many communities have started a neighborhood watch program and have seen tremendous results. The mayor of the city of Annapolis, Maryland highly recommends it. He reports having seen a tremendous improvement in safety citywide. Any sort of program even remotely related to the neighborhood watch program will be an improvement. Some may argue that no one will take this seriously, there are numerous success stories that tell otherwise. They tell of a hard working community working for the greater good. That community can be Alpena. With a little hard work, we too can be almost crime
Local law enforcement can facilitate information gathering among ethnic or religious community groups with whom police have established a relationship. It will generally be citizens who observe the unusual groups of men living in apartments or motels, or unusual behavior at flight schools in their own community, and could be expected to report such observations to the local police. Problem solving models typically used in community policing are well suited for preventing and responding to possible terrorist activity. Using existing data sources, agencies can conduct target vulnerability assessments and develop risk-management and crisis plans. Community policing is not in itself a tactic or strategy, but instead a philosophical approach to how policing is conducted. At its core, community-oriented policing is based on law enforcement and the community joining together to identify and address issues of crime and social disorder.
The Stanford Neighborhood has come together to offer you the enclosed report, Greater Police Presence Needed in Stanford. The report contains recommendations to cut down the crime in our neighborhood.
Apprehending criminals is an important duty of police officers. However, preventing crime is crucial to the safety and well-being of citizens. Fearing crime can have a multitude of negative affects on one’s mental and physical health. Fear can cause depression and extreme stress, which leads to loss of sleep, decreased appetite, and an elevated risk for a heart attack and psychosis. Therefore, I believe the benefits of community policing outweigh those of only apprehending offenders. This approach to policing is done through an assortment of programs including Officer Next Door (OND) and the residential officer program (ROPE). These two programs slightly differ from one another.
They also, of course, respond to dispatch calls of crimes in progress. Crime prevention is achieved through mere police presence. Negative interaction between the community and police is generally the norm. In communities policing, on the other hand, police officers are typically assigned to specific geographic areas in their jurisdiction and establish ties with the various community groups. These groups may include ministerial (church) associations, neighborhood associations, youth groups, etc. The idea is that when police are involved with the community they are not viewed as outsiders who are there simply to enforce the law. Crime prevention is achieved through positive interaction with police and the community. The goals of community policing are to reduce crime and disorder, promote citizens’ quality of life in communities, reduce fear of crime, and improve police–citizen relations. These goals are achieved through three essential efforts: community engagement, problem solving, and organizational transformation. In other words, the police are the public and the public are the police.
In essence, Neighborhood Watch is a crime prevention program that stresses education and common sense. It teaches citizens how to help themselves by identifying and reporting suspicious activity in their neighborhoods. In addition, it provides citizens with the opportunity to make their neighborhoods safer and improve the quality of life. Neighborhood Watch groups typically focus on observation and awareness as a means of preventing crime and employ strategies that range from simply promoting social interaction and "watching out for each other" to active patrols by groups of citizens.
The philosophy of Robert Peel that “the police are the public and the public are the police”, is one that perfectly sums up the relationship between the police and the rest of the community (Lentz & Chaires 2007). This quote suggests that law enforcement needs approval from citizens and residents of neighbourhoods to perform their duties correctly. Meaning, this requires the police to maintain an informed relationship with the community. By doing so they are reducing the reoccurrence of the themes in crime prevention mentioned above.
operate with the police. The community relies on the police department to keep their city safe,