Neighborhood Watch Recap

Neighborhood Watch
Attendance was very good at last weeks meeting. Captain Jackson from U. City Police Department had informational packets for us and was willing to answer/address all concerns and questions and discussed the following basics (some are common sense ideas but could use a refresher):

From the captain, we live in a very safe neighborhood. We should not be scared to walk around at night, Should pay attention to the surroundings, not talking on the phone.

She felt that our neighborhood was dark, said that everyone should keep their porch lights on at night--thieves hate lights. If out of town, lights/radio/television should be on timers and paper and mail should be picked up. Thought it is a good idea to invest in motion detection lighting, and home security systems, said that they have become a lot cheaper. All possessions should be locked up. Don't leave Ipods/laptops in cars as it is easy to break a window and get into them. She also said we can request that the police keep an extra eye on our homes while we are out of town.

The Captain also wanted us to close off the Harvard/Dartmouth entrance to the neighborhood, only creates problems from outsiders. She mentioned that the Chief also thought it was the best thing to do. [The Trustees are closing off this entrance until further notice].

She said to call the police anytime you see something suspicious, especially solicitors, do not feel guilty about that, it is the only way the police can do their job.

The Captain said that she was really impressed by the turn out. We should start a neighborhood watch program, several people offered to be street captains. We should make sure that we get to know all of our neighbors and help watch their houses.

As far as safety on the street, she recommended carrying police type mace or pepper spray.

Her street advice was to continue walking but to be more aware of our surroundings and not to carry valuable items. She especially said to not be walking and talking on the phone... that makes you vulnerable. Also she asked that we really pay attention to details of what we see as we walk.... notice and memorize license plates and faces, height, clothing, details of people we see.

The one thing she emphasized over and over is for us to be proactive in keeping an eye on our neighborhood and calling the police whenever anything looks suspicious. A couple of people admitted to feeling guilty if they did and there was nothing to worry about. She said getting us to overcome that fear is a major hurdle for her. When the police do come and question someone on the street who we wondered about, that sends out two messages, 1). that we are on the watch and 2). that person gets into their files in their Field Investigative Report( FIR). If someone is innocent, the FIR is basically not looked at again. But if there is a repeat call about someone and the police see a previous FIR, then they know to be watchful of that person... or at least investigate further.

On an aside, she referred to our neighborhood repeatedly as Circle City.... that's what the Police Dept call us. I 'm thinking we should now name the lot Circle City Park.

One person asked the Captain what she thought of private security patrols. She said that a lot of people consider them a joke. That Parkview had one at one time and they had to purchase a car for the service. But the service could not hold anyone.... they had to call the police dept., just like we would have to. They did issue the private service a police radio so they could be in contact. She did not believe that Parkview has it anymore. Her final comment was "I honestly don't think it is to the point where you need to hire a private security service."

She did not seem to think there was a trend for our neighborhood for increased crime..... but I think what she meant by that was that everyone was experiencing it. She did say that once word it out that we are proactive, those committing the crimes move on to a different neighborhood (not really very comforting to me). She said that since the subdivision west of us started there’s in the past several weeks, they haven't had any calls.

There was agreement in starting our Neighborhood Watch Program beginning immediately. We took volunteers to be block captains and every block is now covered by at least one. Betsy Grant offered to be the coordinator who will be the contact person with the police dept. until someone else steps forward.

Captain Jackson offered to personally do a security check of any home that requests one. Her email is cjackson@ucitymo.org and her phone number is 314-505-8654. She also recommends that the Block Captains attend the monthly neighborhood watch meetings that she holds at the Community Center once a month or so. She said that in doing so, we'll learn from the other groups around the city about what has worked for them.

Jeff Klohr mentioned that getting to know your neighbors would make a big difference in looking out for each other. I think our community socials take on even greater importance as we all approach this new concern.

Mike Glickert was there and he recommended that we all log onto the city website and read their weekly update to learn what is new in the city. He answered a few questions regarding the possible new curfew and the possibility of closing DH.

The following people have volunteered to be block captains for the start of the program:

Harvard -George Tseng
Cornell - Amanda Slavin
Radcliffe - Eileen Pfeiffer
Trinity - Mark Rowley
Princeton - Margaret Rosielle
Amherst - Rachel Slaughter
Yale - Myra Vandersall
Dartmouth - Shari LeKane-Yentumi
Columbia - Prabhakar Rao
Delmar - Mary Rudder

They will be getting together sometime this month to plan how the neighborhood watch will be structured and/or function.

Please contact Betsy Grant for questions about the Neighborhood Watch Program, 726-5452, evenings or betsy@wubios.wustl.edu.