Neighborhood Safety Committee Minutes 4-28-05

Present:  Donna Grasdock, Veronica Douglas, Ann Reedy, Lloyd Grasdock, Diane MacLean

1.  Presentation by Mark Young, crime prevention officer.

Block watch program is a group of neighbors who get to know each other, care for and look out for each other to help reduce crime.  The main reason that being proactive has become even more important/necessary is that the police force no longer has enough manpower to patrol for crimes as they once did. They now mainly respond to reports/calls.  Our biggest issues seem to be car prowls, theft, and crimes against property.

For those interested in starting a block watch program in your area, someone first has to be willing to host a workshop.  All the invitations and pre-surveys are provided by the police department.

The area should be around 10 homes for a single captain or 10-15 for co-captains.  At least half of the            homes must be represented at the workshop.

The suggested responsibilities after the initial workshop are:

v  Have one meeting a year with your neighbors to keep acquainted and discuss issues and concerns and develop action plans.

v  Host a social once a year-around August 2nd or thereabouts related to the city’s National Night Out event to talk about crime prevention

v  Be in contact with Mark Young as much or as little as you see necessary

Our current status is 4 active captains for a 900+ home neighborhood.

Our goal as suggested by Mark Young would be to get 10 more captains.  As Donna and I looked at the neighborhood by “blocks”, we came up with 24 areas that could be represented and currently are not.  We would ask anyone interested to either contact one of us for information or Mark Young at myoung@comb.org or 676-6924.  We do have a few ideas of people that we will be contacting, too.

On July 30th from 9am-2pm at Boulevard Park, the city and county will host the 1st Annual Crime Prevention Information Fair.  There will be representatives from tool and lock companies, the Coast Guard with their helicopter, Crime Dog McGruff, the US Border Patrol, and pizza by Little Caesar’s.

2.  Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25

We purchased 15 car window cling decals and 5 yard signs.  The prices will posted soon. Please let us know if you would like to purchase "Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25" decals or yard sign.

Committee Contacts:

Veronica Douglas, veronicad1 AT comcast DOT net

Donna Grasdock, grasdock@comcast.net