CPD, Neighborhood Watch begin training sessions
Organizers are trying to increase awareness and expand the program.
Published March 12, 2010
The Columbia Police Department and Neighborhood Watch have teamed up to provide neighborhood watch training for Columbia citizens.
This training, which began March 4 at Oakland Junior High School, was the first of four sessions scheduled for the year, a CPD news release stated.
Members of the Neighborhood Watch Board provided training for attendees. Members of the board are volunteer citizens who have taken part in the Neighborhood Watch program and have first-hand experience.
According to the Neighborhood Watch Web site, a reorganization of CPD led to board members taking the lead in the training sessions.
CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said recent construction in Columbia has led to new neighborhoods without neighborhood watches, something this training session has worked to change.
Organizers of the training session also aimed to increase awareness about Neighborhood Watch, train people interested in starting neighborhood watches in areas without them and help improve watch programs that are not as effective as they used to be, Haden said.
Beat officers were also in attendance. Haden said people in neighborhood watches often want to meet the officers who cover their specific areas.
CPD officer Tim Thomason, with the City's Office of Neighborhood Services, acts as a liaison between CPD and the board.
"The board really runs the program, but we work with them really closely through Tim," Haden said.
Haden said Thomason also communicates information like crime alerts to Neighborhood Watch and brings neighborhood concerns to beat officers covering the area.
"We share the Neighborhood Watch program's goal for reducing crime by encouraging our neighbors to watch out for one another," Haden said in the news release.
Neighborhood watches are uncommon in areas populated largely by students, Haden said. It is particularly difficult to start neighborhood watches in apartment complexes.
"On one hand, that's been an obstacle for us," Haden said. "Many students live off campus, and it's been hard to get neighborhood watches going, especially in apartment complexes."
Haden said one problem with starting neighborhood watches in student housing is lack of interest, but people moving in and out each semester also makes it difficult. The few student-housing areas that do have neighborhood watches usually have a high concentration of families, Haden said.
"East Campus has always had a really strong neighborhood association and neighborhood watch," she said. "It's a bit of an anomaly."
Future training sessions are scheduled for May 4, Sept. 9 and Nov. 9, the news release stated. Meetings for residents of specific subdivisions will be held throughout this time.