If a thief decides to break into your home, one of your best defences could be the eyes and ears of your neighbours.
A group of residents in a Salmon Arm subdivision have started Block Watch, a program based on neighbours helping neighbours.
Sande Berger lives in The Ridge, a newer subdivision on Foothill Road, but she used to live in Calgary. There, a Block Watch program was formed in her neighbourhood and she wanted to bring its benefits to her new home.
“Certainly it makes it easier for police when the neighbours know each other and who should be around,” she says.
Berger and her co-captain Sharon Fitzner, with the help of Salmon Arm RCMP Const. Yvonne Dibblee, organized a meeting recently where about 25 households signed up.
They were provided with information on who to call if you notice someone who looks suspicious, or if you see a crime in progress. They also looked at what can be done to make homes more secure, how to take an inventory of belongings and more.
Dibblee says one of the problems police encounter is when residents have only one contact number on their house alarms, the number of the out-of-town alarm company. Police cannot enter a home unless the home has been entered by a thief, she says, but are called out to dozens of false alarms. Residents end up with a bill to pay for their services. Also, if the alarm can’t be fixed or shut off remotely, neighbours can end up listening to the sound for hours.
Having a neighbour’s contact information on the alarm can alleviate these troubles, she says. It can also mean a resident doesn’t get a bill for police attendance at a false alarm. She notes that the police dispatcher gets a record of such calls, which for some locations can sometimes mean more than 20 police call-outs in just two or three months.
For Dibblee, she encourages more neighbourhoods to consider Block Watch.
“I think crime will go down if people are all out watching for each other.”
Anyone who is interested in forming a Block Watch group in their own neighbourhood is encouraged to contact Const. Dibblee at 250-832-6044.