How to Start a Neighborhood Watch for Additional Home Security

With the number of houses left unoccupied nowadays due to foreclosures, evictions, and repossessions, numerous residential areas are becoming uncomfortably deserted. Even if you have a sound home security system, it can’t help you if you’re attacked on the street or assaulted somewhere in your neighborhood. Additionally, with reports rising of illegal squatters taking up residence in deserted homes, as well as incidents of vandalism on abandoned properties increasing, the value of your real estate can be negatively impacted by the devaluation of the surrounding property. So how can the ordinary person expand his or her safety beyond a home security system, to include their entire neighborhood?

Surprisingly, the answer isn’t new, nor is it high-tech. Since 1972, the National Sheriff’s Association has supported the Neighborhood Watch Program throughout the United States to help the public eradicate residential crime such as burglary, vandalism and assaults.

Thanks to this collaboration between local police departments and the public, the Neighborhood Watch has played a key role in preventing, averting, and solving crimes in many residential areas across the nation. As a bonus, this increased safety has a direct effect on the real estate prices in such areas.

If there’s no Neighborhood Watch in your area, it’s only takes a little time and coordination to start one. The first step is to form a planning committee with other interested neighbors to find out if there’s enough interest to start your own crime watch program.

Next, you inform everybody in the neighborhood when and where your first official neighborhood watch meeting will take place. Make sure to invite your local law enforcement agency to send a crime prevention officer to the meeting. He or she can explain all necessary procedures, each citizen’s rights, and the do’s and don’ts of a Neighborhood Watch. The crime prevention officer can also explain what is the most effective form of collaboration with your local police department.

You’ll need to assign both a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator and a number of Block Captains. The Coordinator is in charge of maintaining a list of all current residents’ names, addresses, phone numbers, and vehicle descriptions, as well as which homes are equipped with home security systems. He or she also coordinates training programs to enhance neighborhood security, and maintains relations with the local police.

Block Captains, like the name implies, act as liaisons between block residents and the Coordinator, and are responsible for maintaining phone lists and informing new residents about the program. For complete information about starting your own Neighborhood Watch Program, contact your local law enforcement agency and USAonWatch.org.

Steve Dowell is an expert writer in subject pertaining to home security systems and home safety issues. You can follow his blog at homesecuritysystems.net