Prince William police encourage residents to form neighborhood watch groups

Police in Prince William County shared information about some online tools that make it easier for neighbors to work together to keep their homes safe.

The department hosted an online meeting to discuss the benefits of having an estbalished neighborhood watch program, with neighbors on the lookout for suspicious activities.

It comes as the rate of violent crimes in the U.S. has held steady over the years, rising 7% from 2014 to 2016 — from 362 to 387 violent crimes per 100,000 persons– and falling 5% from 2016 to 2018, from 387 to 369 per 100,000 persons. In Prince William County, the crime rate in 2018 dropped 7% between 2017 and 2018, acording to the county police department’s annual report.

Officer Jace Massey, who hosted the meeting, said that frequent meetings of the Neighborhood Watch program are usually in person but, with the pandemic, meetings are being held virtually.

Some of the struggles of a neighborhood watch program is getting people involved.

” Often times what happens is that some other type of event takes place, whether it be a series of burglaries or something else that takes place in the community and everyone gets fired up and wants a neighborhood watch and when the problem goes away, so does the neighborhood watch,” said Massey.

As phone apps become more commonplace, they can make it easier for watch coordinators stay in contact with members when they have changes in their lives, such as getting a new job, or if they move to a new home. While there will be the same amount of training to join a neighborhood watch, watch coordinators’ responsibilities have lessened over the years.

The Nextdoor platform is often used which can keep residents connected to their neighbors, to share on what’s going on around them, and to notify when a crime occurs.

“The idea behind Nextdoor is to kind of address the fears of crime effectively,” said Masley. “We need to have the majority of the neighborhoods on your street actively practicing crime prevention methods.”

Nextdoor is a free social media platform similar to Facebook, but more geographically centered. Depending on where you live, you may not be able to access information of another neighborhood in a certain mileage away, which makes the connection more private.

Police don’t access and monitor individual Nextdoor sites, so if there is a problem in the community, it’s best to contact the police directly if there is a crime.

While the police can’t access your resident website or contact information, they will be able to post on the app about updates on what is going on in the county

Neighborhood Watch program has been around since the 1970s, with over 411 active groups in Prince William County . The Prince William County Police Department joined Nextdoor in 2018 and now has over 73,000 verified residents using the app.

Malsey states that police are asking residents to keep on the lookout in their daily activities, like walking their dogs, such as keeping their heads up and not being distracted by their phones.

Another free app that can be used for the Neighborhood Watch program is Ring Neighbors. With Ring Neighbors, citizens can share images with members of the community and law enforcement of suspicious activity.

Ring Neighbors can also share images with not just smartphones and laptops. Police can join conversations but cannot tap into your device and monitor conversations, it is an opt-in app.

Malsey warns that these apps are not routinely monitored so if there is any active crime taking place, please call the police to receive help. Those who see suspicious activity, such as sounding car alarms going off or someone driving slowly through a neighborhood, are encouraged to call the police.

When 911 operators take calls, they’ll ask for a top-down description of a to include features first like skin color, hair, eyes, weight, and height. They’ll also likely ask about the type of car a person was driving, or if the person had a weapon.

“I always tell people to kind of think about it as if they’re the police officer responding. So give as much information as you can and be specific as possible. To kind of help you, think about the whos, the whats, the wheres, and the weapons.”

The Prince William County Police Department has multiple means of communicating with residents, to include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The department will use these channels to discuss plans for the upcoming National Night Out, which was rescheduled from August 4 to October 6 due to Tropical Storm Isaias.