What is Block Watch?
Block Watch is a crime prevention program which is based on a partnership between the police and members of the community who work together to prevent crime in their neighbourhood. It is a neighbour-helping-neighbour program in which participants form a communication chain aided by a block map of names, numbers, and addresses. Participants are the "eyes and ears" for the police, thereby reducing the opportunities for crime and decreasing the likelihood that a crime will occur. Originally started in Seattle in 1973, Block Watch has since expanded across North America and was started in British Columbia in 1986. The Block Watch Program has become one of the largest community crime prevention programs.
The Block Watch Program fights the isolation and separation that crime creates and feeds upon, forges bonds among area residents and businesses, helps reduce burglaries and other crime, and improves relations between the police and the community they serve.
This program is managed by the West Vancouver Police Department's civilian Block Watch Coordinator and overseen by a police officer in the Community Services Unit (CSU). There are currently 241 active Block Watch streets in West Vancouver.
In recent years, calls for service in some areas have increased by as much as 53%. This increase is believed to be largely attributed to the expansion of the Block Watch Program.
Sign Up for ePolicing Block Watch Blasts
Visit the West Vancouver Police ePolicing website and sign up to receive informative E-Mail Blasts relating to Block Watch.
Neighbours Helping Neighbours
Block Watch is really just an extension of what you are probably already doing on an informal basis. We tend to know and watch out for our closest neighbours, but a group of neighbours at one end of the block, who are doing this, may not know the group of neighbours at the other end of the block.
Organizing a Block Watch makes this attitude of watchfulness more systematic, and provides a block map with neighbours' names and telephone numbers that can be used in the case of an emergency.
Block Watch involves two commitments:
- A commitment to be concerned about your neighbour's property as well as your own.
- A commitment that when you see suspicious activity, you will take action by calling your neighbour or the West Vancouver Police Department at (604) 925-7300. If you observe a crime occurring call 9-1-1.
Block Watch Myths
Block Watch does not require you to perform any special tasks, attend a lot of meetings, or take on extra responsibilities.
- You are not required to patrol the neighbourhood.
- You are not required to chase burglars; in fact the police strongly discourage this.
Block Watch involves being alert as a part of your everyday life. For example, when you go to the window to open or close the drapes, instead of turning away, you might stop for a second and glance around the neighbourhood to be sure everything is okay. When you leave your residence to go to work, instead of heading for the car with "tunnel vision", glance up and check the neighbourhood. It is this kind of "watching" that is involved.
Being a part of Block Watch does not require you to live in your neighbour's hip pocket, or tell them every aspect of your business. You can still conduct your life in private. All it requires is that you and your neighbours be familiar enough with each other to know who belongs in the neighbourhood and who does not, which cars are a part of the neighbourhood and which are not, and to recognize when something suspicious is going on. It does not require you to be any friendlier than you want to be.
Block Watch is not just for homeowners. The Block Watch concept of "neighbour watching out for neighbour" is just as important for renters as for homeowners.
Contact Us
If you would like more information about Block Watch or to book an appointment with your block, call the West Vancouver Police Department Community Services Unit at (604) 925-7300 or contact us online.
Click here to visit to the Official Block Watch website.
|