Neighborhood Watch (revised 2)

Bonnie Moreno is a long time homeowner in the Shaw Heights area. Moreno knew that her neighborhood was not safe to live in, but she stayed anyways because problem did not affect her. Until one morning Moreno woke up with her entire fence spray painted with gang graffiti. That's when Moreno had enough and decided to contact the Police Department in organizing a neighborhood watch. Ever since their neighborhood watch meetings and training, Moreno and her neighbor’s are now better at recognizing suspicious act and how to protect themselves. Crime is now less of an issue in Shaw Heights. I’ve always believe that you should get to know your neighbors because you never know when you need them. If Moreno had started this neighborhood watch a little sooner then she might have been able to stop the crime before it even happen.

Same thing happen in El Cerritio area of San Diego. Joanne McLogan one of the neighborhood watch community notice a suspicious car dropped off a man, the car then left driving up and down the street several times. That’s when McLogan contacted the police. In the mean time she gathered neighborhood watch group to spy on the suspicious suspect that was dropped off. They notice he was grabbing stuff in a hurry and shoving her neighbor’s belongings into their bags. As soon as the suspicious suspect left the front door neighbors notice police has not arrived yet, that’s when they yelled and chased him down the street. So without the neighborhood watch the police would not catch the suspect on time.

Similar incidents happen to me. I contacted the police and they specifically told me that, “if no one was hurt or injured the emergency can wait and they will get there as soon as they can.” Authorities can assist you, but sometime there are bigger issues that they need to resolve before they can get to you.In West Seattle numerous burglaries happen in a day. According to Karen, one of the West Seattle home owners said the burglary that she’s seen so far does definitely did their homework. What she meant by that is burglary would spend couple days watching people homes so that they can plan out a schedule to best rob houses. They would pay attention to home owner’s daily schedule when they will be heading in and out of their homes. So far Karen and her community had only come up with ways to keep each other updated information in their neighborhoods other than that they are trying to get volunteers to coordinate a neighborhood watch.

American today tend to believe that minding their own business is a way to live because it’s something less for them to think about in their busy lives. This is also a way for no one to bother them. But at the same time I believe getting to know your neighborhood for safety reason is a must, I also believe especially if you have children. You would want to have a safe neighborhood. I understand that finding volunteers and group meetings are very time consuming, but if they have had more courage, they could have decrease the crime in their areas by doing something about it other than informing which house was just robbed. They should be more proactive. Maybe getting the police involved a head of time or calling 911 as soon as they see something out of the ordinary would really make a difference.

In 1986, using questionnaires, observation of program and interview by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that Neighborhood who participates in a crime prevention program showed a tremendous decrease in crime in their neighborhood. All it took was help of volunteer residence to go out of their way to get to know one another, be more alert and not be afraid to call the police if something goes wrong. They went from simply putting neighborhood watch signs up, to internet communication with police department. They all also raise fund for their community for everyone to take neighborhood watch programs in case of an emergency.
Over all I feel that without the neighborhood watch, certain crimes could not be held accountable for and according to neighborhood watch members, police department, and other authorities says that crimes has been decrease because of good Samaritan cooperation and communication. All working together will make a difference in our society.