Community Watch & Community Policing

Crime rates have a tendency to increase and terms such as organized crime are more common every day. Law enforcement departments are sometimes short handed in terms of budget and personnel, causing police departments not to be as efficient as citizens would like them to be. In this situation a very important and essential factor to support our police departments is the possibility of creating community watch programs. Community watch programs are a very important addition to the police departments in terms of support and being in the lookout for possible crimes. But what exactly is a community watch program or community policing? A community watch program intends to prevent crime by involving residents of different communities in an active role and in close cooperation with police departments in order to decrease criminality rates in their communities. In most cases what the police requires from participants is simply to first use the least common of all the senses: the common sense. Using common sense and prevention strategies to protect first of all themselves and then their properties from criminals. A very important key element to creating a watch program is mutual assistance. Neighbors are asked to get closer and organize the community to prevent crime. Finally, neighbors are trained in order to learn some community policing strategies that will help them acquire a degree of awareness that will allow them to detect and report suspicious activities that are not part of the every day interaction of the community.

Community watch programs should never be perceived or act as vigilante groups, clear indications on being aware of suspicious activity and reporting it immediately to the proper authorities are always give to these organized neighbors. Engaging in pursuits is advised against, since the regular citizen is not trained to face the serious consequences that such pursuits may end up causing. Endangering their lives and the life of others in not part of belonging to a community watch program. Community policing does not involve interfering directly in the criminal event. If you are part of a community watch, never take law into your own hands.

There are several reasons to start such a program, mainly if we take into account that the number of police officers is limited and so are their human possibilities. If the police could be everywhere all the time, crime would not even exist. So the number one purpose of a community group is prevention. Prevention can go a long way in terms of reducing crime in our communities. Second, members of these community policing groups gather often to discuss problems, establish goals and get resources needed for their operations. Most of these community programs have a watch captain, a few block captains and as many members as they decide to have. If you are interested in being part of a community policing group, talk to your neighbors and your police department for more information.