SUN CITY – “The awareness of personal crime, like burglary, is always something in the back of a homeowner’s mind. A quality substitute to a larger police presence is the formation of a Neighborhood Watch. This allows the community to, in effect, police itself. To have a Neighborhood Watch officially sanctioned, resulting in a Neighborhood Watch sign being posted and supported by the police, there are certain guidelines that must be met. [The Village of Huntley] follows the National Association of Town Watch [or the] Sponsored Neighborhood Watch Guidelines that are set up through the National Sheriffs’ Office Association. Primarily, the entire village is divided into four zones. Each zone sergeant is in charge of putting the Neighborhood Watch programs together and communicating with the neighborhood assigned to them,” said Sergeant Mike Hewitt of the Huntley Police Department.
“The individuals have to have the majority, preferably the entire neighborhood, broken down into sections: color coded or [indicating] who is taking certain sections of the street [as well as the] houses per block captain or whatever term they choose to use,” said Hewitt. “[Once the map is squared away] I will sit down with the watch captains and review it with them. After that, I will put forth a requisition for a sign to be put into that neighborhood,” said Hewitt.
The Neighborhood watch will have one main contact that will act as a sort of liaison to Sergeant Hewitt. This individual will relay information to Hewitt and be the conduit for information from Hewitt back into the Neighborhood.
“It’s kind of like a structured calling tree [or email blast],” said Hewitt.
The Neighborhood Watch program has been proven to be a formidable deterrent to personal crimes like burglary.
“One of the [best] things [that a Neighborhood Watch program provides] is the communication amongst the neighbors. [They develop] a heightened awareness of what is going on around them. It is a great tool of communication [that I can use] to get information out to as many residents as possible,” said Hewitt. “The other advantage is [that] it is not just watching out for crime but getting in tune with your neighborhood, such as what appears suspicious or not.”
Along with this heightened awareness and a tighter knit community comes presentations from police officers, “who will come down and talk about how to report suspicious people, what the dispatchers will ask them, [and it allows the officer a chance to] set the record straight,” said Hewitt.
“My ultimate goal is to have all of the Neighborhoods in Sun City actively participate [in the Neighborhood Watch program] …. This would further the [great communication that Sun City already has],” said Hewitt.
As of November 11, Neighborhood 36 has a Neighborhood Watch sign posted, and Neighborhood 21 is next in line to receive a sign.
