By Melissa Juergensen
Faced with dwindling participation, Neighbourhood Watch is calling for increased public support.
“The resident turnover in areas like Centretown is very great and in many ways it’s hard to keep up with the changeover,” says Susan Livergrant, the Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator for Centretown.
Livergrant says a lack of homeowners is one of the biggest problems her Watch has to tackle.
Despite lower numbers, Livergrant says she thinks her community is a safer place because of the Neighbourhood Watch program.
Livergrant says when she started her Watch in 1992, 80 per cent of her neighbours had to agree to participate.
Today, she says, the number of people participating in her Watch has dwindled.
Neighbourhood Watch is one of six crime prevention programs offered to people living in the Centretown area.
Neighbourhood Watch is run by community residents and the police take a pro-active role in providing support and information, says Const. Art Wong of the Centretown Community Police Station.
“If there’s an increase in crime, the first reaction is to call the police or talk to your neighbours about it.”
“By participating in Neighbourhood Watch, you get to know your neighbours and instead of saying there’s a problem, people can actually do something about it,” says Wong.
Const. Stephanie Perkins is one of two volunteer officers in charge of running the business aspect of Neighbourhood Watch.
She says programs like Neighbourhood Watch help empower members of the community and create crime awareness.
“By participating in a Neighbourhood Watch program, the community ends up assisting in the reduction of crime,” says Perkins.
She says Neighbourhood Watch programs can also help police identify suspected criminals.
“By identifying suspicious vehicles parked on the street, Neighbourhood Watch programs have even helped police find murder suspects,” says Perkins.
In June 2003, a Neighbourhood Watch member called Ottawa Police about a suspicious PT Cruiser parked in front of his home.
The vehicle ended up leading police to a person suspected of murdering a man in his Centretown apartment.
Wong says there are 11 Watches in the Centretown area, most of which have been around for many years.
Livergrant says the program helps create a network that alerts the neighbourhood about scams and suspicious behaviour.
“Neighbourhood Watch participants know their neighbours and they are more likely to react if they see suspicious activity at the home of someone they know,” he says.
But, not everyone agrees programs like Neighbourhood Watch are effective.
Michel Vallee, a Carleton University sociology professor and former criminal justice system worker, says most research shows such programs do not reduce crime.
“The programs help to bring residents and neighbours together, but if you look at the research there is no significant impact on crime reduction,” says Vallee.
“Many of these types of intervention programs may reduce crime for a short period of time, but it displaces it,” says Vallee.
“Eventually, the problems will either come back or they will move somewhere else,” he says.
Livergrant says while it might be true that Neighbourhood Watch programs displace crime, she thinks more participation would help prevent it.
“Although in the short-term, criminals may commit crimes elsewhere, where they can go unnoticed, people in adjacent areas are also able to join Neighbourhood Watch programs,” says Livergrant.