About Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch is a national program based on cooperation
between citizens and police departments and nationwide statistics
prove that it works.

When citizens take positive steps to secure their own property
and neighbors learn how to report suspicious activity around their
homes, burglary and related offenses decrease.

Our Neighborhood Watch program on South Campbell Avenue will
be a trial program to determine how effective the program might
be on other parts of the Island.

Our program will be comprised of the following:

· Daily well-being phone calls for elderly or shut-in citizens
(upon request only)

· Formation of an email network and phone tree for those  
who participate in the program

· Email or phone notification in the event of storm
warnings or other potential threats

· Email or phone reporting of possible problems on South  
Campbell to program participants and to the Tybee
Police by way of the email or phone network


Problems can include but are not limited to the following:
o   Amber alerts
o   Suspicious strangers or activity on the road
o   Burglary or criminal trespass
o   Inappropriately loud and disruptive noise
o   Lost or found pets
There is no cost for this program but to make the program
effective, we need volunteers living in the South Campbell
neighborhood to:

    1.        Join the email/phone contact lists
    2.        Be observant and report problems
    
    We also need a volunteer to make well-being phone calls
    and assist with calling those that don't have email.
    
    Who can participate?
    Those who live on South Campbell Avenue or on one
    of the small streets located off South Campbell or on  
    Horsepen Point



Neighborhood Watch Update
3/10/08

Mission: The Mission of the Neighborhood Watch is
three-fold: a) Neighbors looking out for each other's family
and property, b) Neighbors alerting police when suspicious
activities or crimes in progress are observed, c) Neighbors
working together to make our community a safer and better
place to live.

Goals:
1. Increase awareness about protecting neighborhoods        
    by sharing information on home, business and   
personal protection.
2. Help assure safe neighborhoods through the    
coordinated work of trained watch teams that
report suspicious activity to police.
3. Help assure the safety of seniors by providing
Tele-care services
4.  Assist the police with seniors in the event of
emergency evacuations.
5.  Help newcomers feel a part of the neighborhood
by distributing Tybee Welcome Packets.

Our first informational meeting will be on April 3rd from
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  in the Old Cafeteria next to the gym.

Meeting Format:

1. Informational presentation on Neighborhood Watch
Programs

2. Focus Groups:
Review mission, goals, develop action steps

3. Share focus group results

Neighborhood Watch Summary

The following is a Summary of meetings held with Major
Case and Corporal Saunders.

The key element to a successful program is getting buy-in
from the neighbors as well as the police department.

Identifying the types of problems helps identify the best
way to structure a program.

Patrolling helps identify who is and who is not typically in a
specific neighborhood. It also helps spot problems (ie.
Burnt out street lights, missing house numbers, etc) that
may cause safety issues.

Awareness is the best way to prevent crimes. Neighborhood
Watch is a crime prevention tool.

The Police Liaison Officer ( Corporal Saunders) will typically
communicate by email or by phone with the head of the
Watch program to provide information on possible problems
in the area. It then becomes the responsibility of the
Neighborhood Watch members to get the word out to
others. Members of the Watch communicate suspicious
incidents to the head of Neighborhood Watch who forwards
it to the Police Liaison Officer(or another officer if he is not
available).

The Liaison Officer attends the meetings of the
Neighborhood Watch group and provides resource
information.

Most of the crimes on Tybee (other than those on Tybrisa
and the Strand) are property crimes. Disorderly conduct and
DUI'S are next (mostly among vacationers).

The best source for organizational materials appears to be
the National Sheriffs Association USA Watch website.
http://www.usaonwatch.org/

It is fine to broaden the program by providing special
contact services for senior citizens. We may also want to
become a part of the hurricane evacuation program. We
need to contact Jimmy Brown and local ministers for names
of elderly and disabled.

It is best to utilize the Neighborhood Watch title for our
program because it has national recognition.

We are now adding members to our organizational team.
Those who want to be involved need to let us know by
sending an email  to:
planningteam1@tybeeneighbors.com

What is a Neighborhood
Watch Program?
Please browse the
following links to learn
more.

Neighborhood Watch
Manual

Home Security Check List

Home Security Booklet