The Menifee Police Department announced the creation of its new Neighborhood Watch program. Neighborhood Watch is a crime prevention program made up of resident volunteers. The program is organized and operated by a group of residents living in the same area who want to make their neighborhood safer.
This goal is accomplished by joining the local police department and utilizing shared resources to ensure a safer neighborhood. The program provides opportunities to work toward increasing safety, improving the quality of life in communities, and reducing crime rates.
The police department partners with residents to educate them on how and why crime happens, how to improve home/personal safety and to determine how and when to contact law enforcement.
The benefits to a Neighborhood Watch program include an increased sense of responsibility and control, greater unity within neighborhoods, improved relations with law enforcement, and improved quality of life.
The residents of the City of Menifee have shown a clear desire to take ownership of their city through the passing of Measure DD, allowing the creation of the Menifee Police Department. Since its inception, the Menifee Police Department has received numerous calls from active members of the community interested in creating or continuing Neighborhood Watch programs.
The Menifee Police Department encourages those watch programs already in place to register their groups at www.nnw.org, which will allow our POP Team to obtain contact information to seek interest in having the Menifee Police Department to respond to meetings as well as gaining access to numerous literatures and trainings for meetings.
The Menifee Police Department offers the following five basic steps for those interested in starting a watch program:
1. Recruit
The first step towards a successful neighborhood watch will be identifying and recruiting community members willing to participate. The new, or previously established, watch groups can register their group at www.nnw.org for additional information and literature for their meetings.
2. Contact
Neighborhood Watch is a collaborative effort between communities and their police department. Once a watch has been formed, contact the Menifee Police Department POP Team to schedule a meeting. The POP Team is responsible for attending watch meetings and providing information, literature, and trainings on how communities can better protect themselves and address local issues.
3. Discuss
The first meetings should be an effort to gather information about various concerns of the community. These concerns should then be prioritized and discussed to determine which may be resolved on a local level and which require a more collaborative effort.
4. Create
The watch group will want to create a means of communication with one another. The most appropriate form of communication will be based on the community and can range from social media to a phone tree.
5. Take Action
At this point, the watch group has been formed and is organized to address community problems. The last step is to take action. Now is the time to work together to implement the ideas addressed during meetings.
