What it is 

A program involving the joint efforts of the police or sheriff's department and the community, designed to enhance neighborhood security, heighten the community's power of observation, and to encourage mutual assistance and concern among neighbors.

The Need for the Program 

In recent years, neighborhoods have experienced rapid change. The old, well-established neighborhood has been replaced by a highly transient, growing community where people seek more and more privacy. This life-style tends to promote unfamiliarity with neighbors and a corresponding lack of concern. Unfortunately, this enhances the opportunity for the criminal element and increases the community's vulnerability to crime.

This condition dictates the need for a crime prevention program which will enhance neighborhood security, heighten the community's power of observation and encourage mutual assistance and concern among neighbors.

Goals of Neighborhood Watch 

The main objective of Neighborhood Watch is to reduce the incidence of crime by:

• Increasing citizens' awareness of burglary and other neighborhood crime through a continuing information program. (Literature distribution)
• Training citizens in the means of better property security and assist them in making their property more secure. (Operation Identification and Security Surveys)
• Developing a neighborhood action program where neighbors help watch each other's property and report suspicious persons and activities to law enforcement agencies. (Neighborhood Watch)
• Encouraging all citizens to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in reporting crime.
• Enlisting each home/apartment business in Operation Identification