Neighborhood Watch

Introduction

Crime prevention is not, as many would believe, a new topic. It is only recently though that police departments across the country have come to realize that preventing crime in specific neighborhoods is one solution to the increasing burdens placed upon their shrinking resources.

The Seville Police Department is no exception. With an increasing workload, it is imperative that measures be taken now to keep crime in your neighborhood in check. Many people, especially those living in larger cities, believe that crimes are just a fact of life and accept it as fact that there is little to be done about the problem. They cite the fact that there are only so many police and too many thugs and grow accustomed to reading about the problems in their areas¹.

The truth is, however, that neighborhoods and individual citizens can make a difference.

Neighborhoods with active crime resistance programs have experienced great success in reducing crime in their area. These anti-crime programs include friendly "neighbor watching neighbor" programs in urban areas to roving citizen patrols in high crime neighborhoods.

Crime resistance is not a topic that needs to be taught. We all know what it is that we should do to prevent crime in our neighborhoods, we have heard it all before a hundred times: lock your doors; keep your garage door closed; use timers on your lights when you leave; don't give information out over the phone and on and on and on. However, few people actually practice these time proven techniques.

Where are your children at this very moment? Who are they with? What do you know about their friends? Is your garage door closed? Is your house locked? Do your windows and sliding glass doors have pins in them to keep them from being jimmied open? Do you lock your car doors every night? Do you place your belongings inside each night?

Few people could answer the questions above truthfully and still say that they are doing everything that they could do to prevent themselves and their families from becoming a victim of crime. Look around your neighborhood tonight and count the number of garage doors that are left open and the number of bikes left laying in front yards and then imagine what a burglar or vandal would see.

Crime prevention is not a matter of attending a meeting, locking a door or calling the police. It is a way of life that becomes second nature. It is an attitude; a way of thinking and behaving that is passed on to other neighbors and to your children. It is an understanding of the problem and a commitment to do something about it. It is healthy, civic involvement in the neighborhood where you have chosen to live and to raise your family. It is the understanding that while the police department is concerned about the problem, we can't do it alone².

¹ 23,000,000 U.S. households were victimized by crime in 1991,24% of the population
² In the United States, there are only 2.2 full time police officers for every 1,000 citizens

The Problem in Seville

Every police officer in Seville hears the same comments over and over again every year. "This is Seville, nothing ever happens here." True, Seville has not had the same type of problems associated with many other villages and cities. Still, the problem here is increasing.

One factor in this increase is that people simply don't realize that the village has changed over the years. That as the county has grown and as Wadsworth, Medina and Brunswick grow, so will the crime problem in our area. A rural area with easy access to the interstate system and near a county border makes Seville an ideal area for criminals.

In 1991 and 1992, the Seville Police Department averaged 3044 complaints. In 1998 the police department handled 5033 complaints. One important fact to keep in mind when looking at these numbers is that the FBI estimates that only one-third of all criminal activity is ever reported to the police. This means that the actual crime rate in your neighborhood might actually be three times higher than what is reported!

The greatest problems thus far in Seville continue to be vandalism and thefts. While it is true that the problem is not as great as in other Villages, the problem is certainly increasing. Youngsters with no place to go often occupy their time in mischievous ways, and the current year has been no exception. Mailboxes have been vandalized, houses and cars have been egged, property has been spray-painted and numerous items have been reported as stolen.

What Is The Solution?

While there is no one, single solution to the crime problem in Seville, neighborhood watch programs can go a long way towards reaching the goal.

Law enforcement has the legislated duty of enforcing the laws of the State and of the Village. The Ohio Revised code states that "A law enforcement officer who finds a person violating a law of this state or an ordinance of a village shall arrest and detain that person " This one simple entry in the law book places a duty and responsibility on the police department for enforcing the laws. However, it is the citizens of the community that have had the traditional responsibility of preventing crime, and of reporting the crimes that they witness or become aware of to the police department.

This tradition is deeply rooted in history. Ninth century England found that country divided into huge tracts of land called "shires." Each shire was assigned a caretaker, called a "reeve," whose job was to look after the people in his area. It is from this ancient "shire reeve" that we derive our modern term, "sheriff." The Shire Reeve had "Posse Comitus," or the "power of the county." He could, in times of trouble, enlist the citizens to help him in keeping the peace. Every male between the ages of 18 and 80 was required to help when summoned. When the citizens observed a crime, they would detain the criminal and "raise a hue and cry," until the reeve arrived and took charge of the prisoner. Later in English history, we find citizens patrolling the streets and exclaiming on the hour, "All is well!" if such were the case.

Early Americans relied on a simple technique called "neighbor helping neighbor." This technique was applied not only to the problem of crime in their area, but also to their very survival. It is this time-honored technique that we will be concentrating on here.

What Is A Neighborhood Watch?

The neighborhood watch program is a network of neighbors who make a commitment to each other to watch over each other's property. By organizing an entire neighborhood, it is possible to reduce the amount of crime in that neighborhood, often by huge percentages.

Some neighborhood watch programs consist simply of a couple of neighbors who agree to watch over each others' property when the other is out of town. Others involve monthly meetings and roving citizen patrols. The best program however, is the one that works in our community. Neighborhood watch programs are the eyes and the ears of the police department. By training citizens to watch for certain criminal activities, it is possible to put great pressure on the criminals in a given area. Most criminals that we will deal with in Seville are amateurs looking for targets of opportunity. Remember, criminals are counting on the fact that most people simply won't get involved!

Why should I participate in a neighborhood watch program? The answers are many and varied. Past victims of crimes are the first to join such programs. They have learned from experience that being a victim often means much more than just a financial loss, even though some losses may be significant. The key to any such program is preventing the crime from occurring in the first place. Others have recognized that their investment in a neighborhood watch program can payoff in increased property values as well. One of the most common questions asked by prospective homebuyers is "What is the crime rate here." Still, the most rewarding prospect of a neighborhood watch program is the simple feeling of security, and of knowing that other people are watching out for your belongings and your family.

The Crime Equation

To understand what makes a neighborhood watch program successful, it is necessary to understand the types of crime and criminals expected. The majority of criminals in the Seville area have tended to be juveniles, usually staying near their own neighborhood. This year has seen an increase in the amounts of vandalism done in the area, a result of unsupervised juveniles.

For a crime to occur, two things are needed. The first ingredient to every crime is that there must be a perpetrator, or person who has the desire to commit the crime. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of criminals and more convicted criminals are being released into our neighborhoods every day³.

The second and final ingredient is that there must be an opportunity to commit the crime.

Perpetrator + Opportunity = Crime

The equation above shows that a person with the desire to commit a crime, who has the opportunity to do so, will commit the crime. There is little that can be done to eliminate the desire, or the perpetrator⁴. Jail and police seem to be of little concern to them and it is well known that the chances of being caught after a burglary or theft are slim. Across the nation only 14% of home burglaries ever result in an arrest. However, if we can eliminate the opportunity, the equation cannot be completed!

The opportunity to commit the crime can be eliminated by placing a police officer at every home, by building fences around our neighborhoods, or by letting the criminal know that his every action is being watched by neighbors only too eager to see him arrested!

³ The FBI estimates that there are 35.3 million crimes committed each year
⁴ Ohio ranks sixth in the nation for the number of inmates being held in prison

How Will Our Program Work?

The program designed for your neighborhood is simple, inexpensive and reliable. It starts with you, by your first admitting that there is a crime problem in Seville and by you making a commitment to eliminate that problem from your neighborhood.

It starts by you meeting with your neighbors, the ones next door and across the street from you and making a mutual agreement with each of them to watch for suspicious activities around your homes and to notify each other and the police of anything that appears to be out of the ordinary. This means a mutual understanding that it is OK to call the police or your neighbors about something unusual to you; even if you are not one hundred percent sure that something is wrong! It would be far better to call your neighbor and ask them if the car parked in front of their house belongs to friends of theirs than to find out the next day that your neighbor was burglarized.

It also means understanding that sometimes you or your neighbors might be wrong. That it is possible to call the police about suspicious persons walking down the street to find out later that they live several houses away. The police department does not expect you to recognize every criminal. It has been the experience of the Seville Police Department that citizens here do not mind explaining that they are just out for a walk when they learn that neighbors called about someone they did not recognize. Most thank the officers for being concerned enough about the area to take the time to check. They know that if the police will check on them, that they will be checking the criminals as well! Once this agreement is reached with your immediate neighbors, the groundwork for a successful neighborhood watch program has been put in place. The idea behind a successful neighborhood watch program is to keep it simple and reliable. You are the eyes and the ears of your neighbors and police. You should immediately call the police by dialing "911" if you see:

• A crime is being committed.
• Suspicious persons or persons whose behaviors seem odd to you.
• Suspicious cars in your neighborhood, or ones parked where people do not usually park.
• Juveniles out after curfew. The curfew in Seville begins at 11:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday and at 12:00 midnight on Friday and Saturday.
• Unusual persons or happenings at a neighbor's house, for instance, people around the home when the owners are usually at work.
• Dogs barking as if to warn off an intruder.
• At any time a person or situation appears to be suspicious to you, even if you are not sure of the reason for this suspicion

As a police officer, one of the most frustrating things is to find out several days after an event that there were witnesses who did not call the police. They usually say that they did not want to bother the police department since they really weren't sure if something was wrong, or they simply didn't think that the police would be interested in knowing about a car full of kids sitting at the end of a dead end street.

Many, many bad guys have been caught because a citizen called the police not knowing if a crime was being committed or not. Remember, the police won't know either until they investigate and they certainly don't expect you to know from the information you can gather from your window!

As a rule, if a person looks suspicious, acts suspicious or is in an unusual area (your backyard at two in the morning!), that person is suspicious and should be checked out. People who are about to commit a crime or who are up to no good display visual clues that you may pick up on not even knowing what to look for. If you are not sure, take the safe route and call the police.

What Happens When I Call The Police?

When you dial "911" the police dispatcher will answer the phone, "911 emergency, what is the problem?" The dispatcher will then get vital information about the call and will advise the Seville officer on duty of the situation.

The Seville Police Department contracts with the Medina County Sheriff's Office for dispatching services during the time that our own dispatcher is not at work. This means that the person that you are talking to might not be familiar with the area or with the names of your neighbors across the street. These dispatchers are trained to get certain information from each caller: your name and address and your phone number. This information is vital in the event that the connection is lost (with GTE?) or if the officer needs more detailed information about the situation.

The dispatcher will probably ask you to remain on the line, so that you can continue to advise them of the situation. For instance, you might be able to tell the dispatcher that the person you were calling about just ducked behind a bush as the police car drove by, or that they ran to a car. Remember that you are the eyes and the ears on the scene until the police arrive.

One common concern is that the criminal will learn who called about them. There are three things to remember: 

1. This information is never given out.
2. This information is never given out.
3. This information is never given out.

The police officers on the scene will never tell a criminal who called about them or even how it is that the police learned about the crime. After all, the police don't want to make the criminal any smarter! The police officer himself usually won't know who called until after the call. That information just isn't important to him at the time. What is important is that somebody is witnessing something unusual for their neighborhood and has taken the time to call about it. Police, like a reporter on a hot scoop, fight to protect their sources!

When calling the police about a suspicious person or event, you do not have to give your name. But a word of caution, the actions taken by the officer responding to your call could be influenced by that fact.

For example, if you witness two people across the street from you, one standing on the sidewalk and one going through your neighbor's car and call the police and tell them about the event and do not give your name, and the police respond and find both persons standing on the sidewalk, it is quite possible that neither person will be arrested even though a crime has been committed! This is because the officer did not see the person going through the car and without a witness who can be identified and who could testify that the person in the red shirt was going through the cars, no arrest can be made. Being resistant to crime often involves civic duty as well, the willingness to become involved and to make a stand. This is true even when it means possibly testifying to the facts in court. That's simply how the system works.

Block Captains

The exchange of information that occurs between the citizens of a neighborhood and the police department is not a one way street. The police department has a lot of information to pass on to you and your neighbors as well.

For instance, if two men in a black Ford truck with an orange camper top have victimized the neighborhood on the other side of town, it would be wise to alert you and your neighbors of this fact. That way, when you are coming home with a late night pizza and notice a truck of that type in your neighbor's driveway, you would have some idea as to what was going on.

This is where the Block Captain becomes involved. The police department has limited resources and time. It would be impossible for an officer to contact each of you by phone and to explain about the truck and the problems associated with it. By having a Block Captain assigned to every ten houses or so, this information could be disseminated quickly and efficiently.

A Block Captain is simply a leader in your community who agrees to work with the police department in getting vital information to you. Each Block Captain would be assigned a certain number of homes near him whom he would call with information passed on by the police department.

In our example, the police department could call ten Block Captains and advise them of the strange truck and of the problem in the area. The Block Captain would then simply call his ten neighbors and tell them that the police department just called and said that another neighborhood has had three burglaries where a black Ford truck with an orange camper top was seen in the area. By placing only ten calls to key people, the police department has been able to alert one hundred ten households about a potential problem!

This same method works for the dissemination of printed material as well. It is the goal of the police department to keep each neighbor informed of the events elsewhere in the Village by the publication of a quarterly news bulletin. This information can only be passed out with the cooperation of the leaders in your neighborhood. If you are serious about wanting to eliminate the crime in your neighborhood, contact the police department about becoming a Block Captain.

The Communications Network

This simple diagram shows how a Neighborhood Watch program can work to keep each neighbor informed of current events in the neighborhood and elsewhere.

The police department notifies the block Captain of current crime problems in the area. The captain notifies the neighbors in his/her group. At other times, the neighborhoods watches out for each other, advising neighbors of suspicious activities and/or call the police when needed.

Communication is the key to a successful watch program, not only between citizens and the police, but between neighbors as well. Knowledge is power, and the more people who know about the criminal activity in an area the better the neighborhood is prepared to deal with the threat.

The police department notifies the Block Captain of current crime problems in the area. The captain notifies the neighbors in his group. At other times, the neighborhood watches out for each other, advising neighbors of suspicious activities or calling the police when needed. Neighbors should try to keep each other informed of vandalism, thefts or suspicious persons and cars so that others can be on the lookout for the same type of problem.

These reports to other neighbors do not have to be lengthy or detailed, but should alert others to the potential problem. Once you alert your neighbors to problems that you have encountered, you will be surprised how readily they are to alert you as well.

Conclusion

The neighborhood watch program operates to educate its participants in the principles of deterrence, delay, and detection. The program depends upon a communication network organized with three levels of participation: the resident, the Block Captain and the police department. Vigilante actions are not condoned or expected. No one is asked to take personal risks or to be a hero.

The goal of the neighborhood watch program is to give potential criminals the feeling that everyone in the community is watching every move they make! Thieves know that a neighborhood participating in such a program is nothing but trouble for them...even when those thieves are professionals.

You need not be home constantly or be "on guard" on your property. Simply report any suspicious or unusual activity to the police immediately. It's as simple as that. Remember that the only crime that will be committed in YOUR neighborhood is what YOU and YOUR neighbors will tolerate! Well-organized and close-knit neighborhoods experience much less crime and other related problems.

The neighborhood watch program operates on the idea that the best crime prevention device ever invented is a good neighbor." If you call when you see suspicious activity in your neighborhood, be aware of crime and its effects, and practice good security habits, your chances of ever becoming a victim of a crime in your neighborhood become less and less.