Grove Park Community Association

The City of Durham Police Department has three established steps in organizing and continuing a Neighborhood Watch.

• Organize -- Check with neighbors to see if there is interest in Neighborhood Watch then contact your patrol district's crime prevention officer Reese Carlson III ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )  to schedule a neighborhood meeting. Invite everyone in the community to the meeting and keep a log, which includes names, addresses and telephone numbers of everyone who attends the meeting. 

• Operations -- One block captain is selected for each block in the community. The block captain must live on that block and needs to know every head of household on his/her block.

• Duties of Members -- Coordinate with the crime prevention officer to correct weaknesses in home security. Call 911 to report any crimes or suspicious activities/persons in your neighborhood. Watch out for your neighbors' homes when they are away.

Neighborhood Watch was created to obtain citizen involvement in discouraging and preventing residential crime. The program encourages citizens to secure their own homes and personal property. It also emphasizes the importance of calling the police when you see suspicious activity. The two main principles of the Neighborhood Watch Program are very simple.

• Encourage residents to properly secure their homes and belongings; and

• Immediately call the police when you see suspicious activity or become a victim of crime.

Below is the basic structure of a Neighborhood Watch Program and a brief overview of the duties involved:

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH COORDINATOR

• Act as a liaison between residents and police department.

• Develop a network of block captains to keep area residents updated on Neighborhood Watch information.

• Maintain a list of block captains.

• Provide police department with concerns of area residents (i.e., common ground area where people gather and cause trouble, areas needing traffic enforcement, houses where illegal activity is suspected, etc.).

• Relay information received from the police department to block captains.

• Develop and distribute a Neighborhood Watch newsletter (optional).

• Organize periodic group meetings to reinforce crime prevention techniques and discuss needs of the area.

BLOCK CAPTAINS

• Assist the coordinator as needed.

• Act as liaison between assigned residents and the Neighborhood Watch coordinator.

• Distribute information provided by the Neighborhood Watch coordinator to residents in a timely fashion.

• Inform the Neighborhood Watch coordinator of any crime-related problems within your area of responsibility.

• Contact new residents and brief them on the Neighborhood Watch program. Stress the main principles of Neighborhood Watch.

RESIDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

• Secure your own property.

• Call the police when you see suspicious activity or are the victim of a crime.

• Attend Neighborhood Watch activities when possible.