Addressing Neighborhood Crime

Across the nation, crime is of concern to citizens in cities, suburbs, towns, and rural areas. Increasingly, citizens and law enforcement professionals realize neither one can eradicate crime when working separately. Neighbors, and other concerned citizens, working cooperatively with law enforcement, can have a positive effect.

Home burglaries, in particular, can be minimized when community residents take steps to make their homes less inviting and vulnerable to burglars.

Burglary, the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft, is generally considered a crime against property. It has, however, a high potential for death or injury to the victim who comes in and surprises an intruder. Through the well recognized concept of the Neighborhood Watch Program (NWP), a community-based program supported by the National Sheriffs' Association since 1972, residents of thousands of communities across the nation have discovered that they can make a difference in preventing crime.

The Role of the Community in Neighborhood Watch

Ask anyone whose home has been burglarized - the shock and helpless anger accompanying the discovery that an intruder has entered one's home will not easily be forgotten. The damage may be minimal or major, the losses slight or catastrophic. The incident may or may not have involved injury to a family member - yet one hard fact remains: another statistic has been added to the ever-growing list of burglarized homes.

Is Your Neighborhood Ready to Resist Crime or is it a Target for Burglars? It's Up to You!

Chances are good that a home burglarized today is located in a neighborhood where one vital prevention tool is missing: an active Neighborhood Watch Program. This community-based Organization of citizens working together with law enforcement has become the key to preventing burglary and crime nationwide.

The National Sheriffs' Association created the National Neighborhood Watch Program in 1972, with financial assistance from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, to unite law enforcement agencies, private organizations, and individual citizens in a massive effort to reduce residential crime. A work plan emerged for use by sheriffs, police, and citizens for putting together local neighborhood-based programs. Since its establishment, NWP has developed thousands of such local residential crime prevention programs in which individual citizens work to:

• Make their own homes and families less inviting targets for crime, and
• Cooperate with law enforcement through block and neighborhood groups to control crime through-out the community.

Neighborhood Watch is not a vigilante force or a private police force. It is a vital part of the complete crime prevention plan for our communities. If you would like to get more information, you can download the NWP checklist (PDF). You can also email us for more information.