University Police

Crime Prevention

Neighborhood Watch

Includes information about Neighborhood Watch program, how to organize a Neighborhood Watch group, and safety tips to help protect your home and your neighborhood from crime.

Neighborhood watch program overview

Every community crime prevention program needs the commitment and involvement of residents. People just like you have cleared drug dealing out of their neighborhoods, made parks safer for children and sidewalks secure for play, and wiped out graffiti and vandalism.

A Neighborhood Watch (NW) program is a group of people living in the same area who want to make their neighborhood safer by working together and in conjunction with local law enforcement to reduce crime and improve their quality of life.

Program activities

Activities conducted by Neighborhood Watch groups across the country are diverse and vary depending on volunteers and the neighborhoods they represent:

  • mobilize to patrol neighborhoods
  • distribute crime prevention information
  • conduct business assessments or home security surveys
  • mobilize and conduct neighborhood clean-ups if disorders such as littering is a problem

As law enforcement officers learn the needs of their various NW groups and the dynamics of their volunteers, they can tailor activities and responses to meet the ever-changing needs of the citizens.

For information on the goals and philosophies of a NW program, the benefits of a NW program, how to build a NW program, planning and conducting NW meetings, NW skills, and revitalizing and maintaining Watch groups, download the East Campus Neighborhood Watch Training & Information Manual and visit the resources by clicking on the link and images below: