Are neighborhood watch programs useful?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Are neighborhood watch programs useful?

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:01:43 AM EDT

I'd like to hear from LEOs on this. Do neighborhood watch programs deter crime? Do they help identify bad guys? I can't recall anything in the news about this and I'm curious.

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:03:54 AM EDT

[#1]

I am not LEO, but I have seen them work effectively.

A good friend of mine lives in a "used to be good" neighborhood. They started a neighborhood watch program and it has worked great. They got local LEO involved and they pay off duty officers to help patrol.

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:04:07 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
I'd like to hear from LEOs on this. Do neighborhood watch programs deter crime? Do they help identify bad guys? I can't recall anything in the news about this and I'm curious.

I guess some do. Ive seen mostly soccer moms, seniors and kill em all types at a couple meetings I attended in an old neighbohood.

One guy around here wanted to be the commander, but he moved away.

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:17:11 AM EDT

[#3]

A friend of mine started up the Nunaka Valley Community Patrol in Anchorage. Unlike the other CP's they were um.....well raw. The other CP's were more like a way for a couple folks to score donations of cars and crap like that...

NVCP volunteers were encouraged to drive old, loud beater cars. CCW was encouraged, and frequent trips past known drug houses was the norm. It worked like a charm.....

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:25:45 AM EDT

[#4]

Lots of different variants.

Some want you to read some nice pamphlets, but don't do anything assertive.

In my parents neighbourhood we set up "dog walks". 3 or 4 groups of 4-6 men with their dogs, flashlights and a RCMP donated walkie talkie. They would go for a walk around the neighbourhood Fri-Sat nights at 10-12 pm.

They would corner a burglar in a backyard, then call the Mounties. No direct confrontation with the bad guys, but the badguys would understand that if there were 15-20 guys in the street and alley around the house, with flashlights and lots of barking dogs, that he really shouldn't try anything.

Worked like a charm. Periodically a plainclothes RCMP officer would show up to join us, and to his surprise, would leave with a burglar in cuffs 30 minutes later.

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:27:50 AM EDT

[#5]

I was asked to join my neighborhood watch. But I know if I showed up open carrying it would start a shitstorm that I really do not feel like having. So I take night time walks as my own neighborhood watch.

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:27:50 AM EDT

[#6]

I think they're effective, my 'hood doesn't have one though.

On the other hand, sort of goes against the sentiment of MYOB and don't be a snitch which a a lot of ARFCOMr's hold. Guess it's a classic case of do what I say not what I do.

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:40:33 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
I was asked to join my neighborhood watch. But I know if I showed up open carrying it would start a shitstorm that I really do not feel like having. So I take night time walks as my own neighborhood watch.

How would you react if you encountered some criminal activity? Do you carry a cell phone with which to call 911?

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:52:40 AM EDT

[#8]

I started my own neighborhood watch. You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to catch me peeking into your windows.

-Foxxz

Posted: 10/10/2007 7:56:03 AM EDT

[#9]

I think the signs send a message that the neighbors are aware and watching for suspicious stuff. Whether or not they are is an entirely different story.

Posted: 10/10/2007 8:41:14 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
I am not LEO, but I have seen them work effectively.

A good friend of mine lives in a "used to be good" neighborhood. They started a neighborhood watch program and it has worked great. They got local LEO involved and they pay off duty officers to help patrol.

Great. They get to pay for extra police protection.

Posted: 10/10/2007 9:25:15 AM EDT

[#11]

The work very well if operated with the SSS Docterine.

Posted: 10/10/2007 9:31:39 AM EDT

[#12]

The ones around here don't do shit.

Some of the other ones posted in this thread. I wish we had those...

Posted: 10/10/2007 9:32:37 AM EDT

[#13]

I think the provide a deterent for some, but in all I think it makes old women a little bit tooooo nosey.

Posted: 10/10/2007 9:33:34 AM EDT

[#14]

I think that if administered correctly they can really be effective at detering crime.

Posted: 10/10/2007 9:43:51 AM EDT

[#15]

I can neither confirm nor deny that as an idle teen I would take a box-end wrench and go around flipping the watch signs upside down. If I did this, I was never confronted.

Can't work all that well.

Posted: 10/10/2007 10:21:08 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
I think that if administered correctly they can really be effective at detering crime.

Can you elaborate?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Are neighborhood watch programs useful?

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