Neighborhood Watch

Concerned Neighbors Can Prevent Crime By Joining A Neighborhood Watch:

When neighbors work together with the St. Francis Police Department, it creates the best crime fighting team around. The SFPD cannot have an officer on every corner, so involvement from residents is essential in preventing crime.  Be a good neighbor and make our community safer from criminals by participating in Neighborhood Watch.  The St. Francis Police Department believes in a strong police and community partnership and will be helping with the start-up of a neighborhood watch program in the city.

What is Neighborhood Watch

Started in 1972 by the National Sheriff’s Organization, Neighborhood Watch is the cornerstone of all crime prevention programs. It enlists the active participation of residents, in cooperation with police, to reduce crimes in the community. Neighborhood Watch is a critical communications tool for our community and will educates you about local crime trends and criminals.  The more you know about crime, the better you’ll be able to recognize suspicious activity in your neighborhood and report it by calling 911. This will  gives police the opportunity to check out what may or may not be a crime and perhaps prevent a criminal from making another victim in our community. 

Maintaining Neighborhood Watch

For this program to continue to grow and benefit the community, help from residents is needed.  We ask that block captains attend meetings with the SFPD and communicate that information to their neighbors (watch website for upcoming dates).  We recommend that block captain’s and their neighbors have at least one social gather per year — the idea is to get the neighbors together. (Many groups use their Minnesota’s Night To Unite celebrations as a social gathering.)

For Neighborhood Watch groups to maintain active status, it’s important that they:

• have a block captain or co-captains
• welcome new neighbors (block captains) and provide them with resources (Neighborhood Watch Manual and block map)
• hold at least one neighborhood gathering each year (ie, block party, Night to Unite, etc)
• have an up-to-date block map with the information neighbors want to share (names/children’s names/pets/email/phone)
• develop a way to communicate within their neighborhoods (start an e-group on Facebook/google/yahoo/Nextdoor.com, develop a phone tree to advise neighbors of any issues in the neighborhood, etc)
• share information with neighbors that may not have email/Internet