Neighborhood Watch Information
For links to crime prevention tips, see our CPD Contact Information page.
Columbia crime reports are now posted daily on the CrimeReports.com website: http://columbianeighborhoodwatch.org/crimestats.php Enter your street address in ‘location’ window – click on ‘get report’ There are options for amount of detail you view: Calendar period; Crime Types; Zoom ‘in or out’. Click on “Free Crime Alerts” to receive them directly from CrimeReports.
This is the manual used by Columbia Neighborhood Watch: http://www.usaonwatch.org/assets/publications/WatchManual.pdf In this manual you will find a section on Citizen Patrols. In Columbia, CItizen Patrols require additional training from the Columbia Police Department. If you are interested in learning more about Citizen Patrols, contact the CPD and ask for the “Citizens on Patrol” (COP) coordinator.
How to Organize and Schedule a Neighborhood Watch training:
As a result of the CPD re-organization which took effect October 5, 2009, Columbia Neighborhood Watch Board members are now the certified 'Trainers', taking the lead in conducting CNW training sessions. We try to schedule Columbia Neighborhood Watch training sessions on Tuesday or Thursday nights, typically from 7:00 to 8:00pm for the published training time (we need a 'block' of time scheduled with the facility from 6:00 to 9:00pm). Because of the need to do registration before and after the actual 'training session', we require that our training session be a "stand-alone event" --- not a part of another group's meeting.
We ask the training organizer (you) to do the following:
1. Organize a group of at least 10 neighbors who wish to be trained. A larger group, such as subdivision or neighborhood wide training that is advertised in a neighborhood newsletter, on street signs, or through door hangers, is a very good way to get Neighborhood Watch started in an area. If you know how to contact your Homeowners Association or Neighborhood Association, it is a great resource to discuss and advertise these trainings. Contact CNW if you would like one of our volunteers to make an informational presentation to an association meeting.
2. Locate & schedule a location for the training. Make sure you have space for at least 13 people including CNW trainers, and CPD personnel if available. The Media Room in many Public Schools is suitable for groups up to 25-30; for groups larger than that, churches and civic organization meeting halls in your area are places to ask. We have a small projector and DVD player, but the venue needs to have a projection screen or light colored blank wall area for us to project on. In a home, the hosts DVD player and TV will be fine.
3. Personally notify as many people as you can as to the date & time for the training. When a date is scheduled for a training, we notify the police Sector Lt. in charge of the area where you live knowing that he/she will make every effort to have your ‘Beat Officer’ attend the training if their schedule permits.
To schedule Neighborhood Watch trainings, use this email link:
Once someone has attended a Columbia Neighborhood Watch training session, they are considered a trained member of CNW. But as we explain in the training sessions, in order to become part of an officially recognized CNW Block requires block participation and block organization as described in the following section.
How Columbia Neighborhood Watch Blocks are organized:
CNW is organized by 'basic' block units of homes who watch out for each other, and, because they are aware of their neighbor's comings and goings, which cars and people belong, etc., can quickly spot unusual or suspicious behavior. In the past 15 to 20 houses was the recommended maximum size for a block unit, but blocks in the 25 to 35 house range can work, although at this size folks are starting to trade off everyone knowing everyone else's living patterns and vehicles for connectedness over a larger area and convenience of administration. Blocks longer than about 20 houses usually share a common feature: a long street with no cross streets, other than small connected courts. "Suspicious activity" in vehicular or pedestrian form will generally be seen by many of the houses in such a block, and should be of immediate observational interest to those members of the block.
Getting started to organize your neighbors on the block requires at least one person on each block willing to knock on some of doors and say something like:
"Hi, I'm your neighbor___, I live at ___. We're trying to organize a Neighborhood Watch group on our block -- is that something you would like to participate in? What I'm doing today is asking each of us to share our contact information with each other -- if you would share an email address it would make it much easier, as I will be able to simply email our contact info around, and keep the group informed about how we're doing on getting a training organized". Before you start going door to door, let CNW know what you are doing and we will Email you an Excel doc spreadsheet where all you have to do is fill in the blanks.
If one of your neighbors doesn't have computer skills, you can type or write down your neighbors contact information. You will need to make a copy for every neighbor on the list. Since we don't leave things in mailboxes (illegal) or leave papers in doors (makes homes look unoccupied) we suggest you either mail or hand deliver the copy to your neighbor. However you do it, sharing your contact information amoung yourselves is the most important step in setting up your Neighborhood Watch block.
Once the "block training" has taken place, there are certain "levels of participation" that determine the official status of recognition for that block. Based on national standards, CNW will recognize a Block, and a person(s) as Block Captain, when they submit a roster to CNW showing the % trained on their block. If the % of the occupied houses to have at least one occupant attend the training reaches 25%, we designate the block as 'recognized' as a "block in progress" working towards the 50% national standard. With susequent trainings, once the 50% is achieved, the block becomes fully certified. CNW, after reviewing this information, installs a “free” neighborhood watch sign (paid for by CNW) on City of Columbia property, with the option that the block can purchase another sign through CNW (CNW installs this sign as well, typically at the other end of the street).
Getting Started By Offering an Area-Wide Training At The Subdivision Level With An Area Coordinator.
As discussed above, a Homeowners’ Association or Neighborhood Association can play an invaluable role in scheduling venues for Neighborhood Watch trainings, and advertising those trainings in their Newsletter or Web page. That is why we have the volunteer position of ‘Area Coordinator’. The Area Coordinator for a neighborhood or subdivision is a volunteer from the neighborhood (and may very well be a board or Association member acting independently) who is willing to help neighbors determine block groups and select acting captains, and to serve as an organizational link between the block groups and CNW to schedule additional trainings with the help of the Homeowners’ Association or Neighborhood Association.
If you live in a small neighborhood you don’t need and Area Coordinator; but if you do need one, the CNW board will assist whoever volunteers as much as possible, to achieve the goal of organizing Neighborhood Watch in your area as quickly as possible.