We’ve mentioned it before: good neighbors make good security. And what better way to get good neighbors than to start a crime watch program if you don’t have one?

How to Start a Neighborhood Crime Watch

1. Think about the things you want to accomplish: get to know each other? Talk about  crime? Start a patrol? Organize a committee?

2. Pick a date. Evenings are best, around 7 p.m. Schedule the meeting in someone’s home so neighbors can walk and feel comfortable in their own surroundings. You’ll also increase attendance. If no one is willing to host, consider a local church or public space. At least 30% participation is required to organize your group.

3. Call your local police department and ask an officer to attend. That officer is a wealth of information, from crime statistics and prevention tips to community policing, and information about how the police can help deter crime. In particular, ask the officer to address what is needed when calling the police about a suspicious person or vehicle.

4. Make a flyer, one for each home or apartment. This is to inform everyone of the meeting; the brochure speaks to the implementation of Neighborhood Watch. Your local police department may have ready-made brochures for you to distribute. Be sure to ask.

5. At the meeting, identify a neighborhood chairperson and organize the first meeting. Set up a telephone chain to be shared with neighbors participating in the crime watch. The chain is a list of phone numbers and addresses, as well as any special information about that location. This is how people stay in touch and it is a critical part of the program.

6. Ask if the police can provide crime watch signs, house stickers, or t-shirts for your group.

7. Set up a regular time for meetings each month and make plans to distribute the telephone chain.

This is not an easy process, but it’s one of the best things that can happen to a neighborhood!

This time of year, many of us open up our windows to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Nothing wrong with that. But an open window, particularly in an unoccupied house, is an easy target for a burglar. You need to secure them or keep them shut (and turn on your Monitronics monitored alarm system when you’re away or sleeping).

So if you want the window cracked, make sure it is no more than six inches open and use secondary blocking devices, like a wooden dowel or stick for a horizontal sliding windows or a through-the-frame pin or “screw lock”for vertical sliding windows. Make sure that you can’t reach through the open window and remove any of these things.

For the times when the window is shut, place a highly visible alarm company sticker. Monitronics makes some nice ones that are available from customer service at 800-447-9239.

According to the FBI, a burglary occurs somewhere in the United States every 15.4 seconds. No home is burglar-proof, but there are dozens of simple tips you can use to make your residence a harder target. After all, time is the enemy of a thief, who wants to work quickly. Make your house a less attractive target and the burglar may move on.

Tuesday tip: Secure your sliding-glass patio doors

That sliding glass door lets in lots of light, but it can let in a burglar, too. Here are some quick tips for securing it:

• That latch is not worth a lot—it’s easily forced open. Use a “charley bar” or two-by-four in the track to block it from being opened.
• Older sliding doors can actually be lifted up and off their track from the outside. To prevent this, keep the door rollers in good condition and well adjusted. Check out your local hardware store for an “anti-lift device;” it looks like a pin that goes through both the sliding and fixed portion of the door.
• Consider placing a Monitronics window decal on the sliding door to prove you’re protected 24 hours a day
• Place a monitored glass break, door sensor, or motion detector on that entry way