On Becoming a Neighborhood Watch Captain or Co-captain
Why Get Involved?
To get to know your neighbors.
To manage a list of participating neighbors and their contact information.
To increase safety for yourself, your family, and property.
To help reduce crime and to learn crime reduction skills.
To inform participants of crime alerts.
To help address neighborhood problems which concern you.
To learn how to make reports to your law enforcement agency.
To help organize, with neighbors, a National Night Out gathering, and optional meetings.
Find a neighbor to do this with and have fun. It is an excellent way to get to know more of your neighbors.
To meet with other Neighborhood Watch captains in the CANA area to share information.
How to get started
Contact the Crime Prevention Unit
To start a Neighborhood Watch Group, contact the Crime Prevention Unit at the Modesto Police Department to help you organize and register your area. If your group has been active in the past, and is not registered, please update your information with the MPD Crime Prevention Unit.
Call CSO Jennifer Slocum, slocumj@modestopd.com, 209-342-9127
Determine the number of households with which you want to start
It can be just your block on both sides of the street, or two blocks, or more.
Invite your neighbors to sign up for Neighborhood Watch
Here is a sample letter and sign-up sheet.
Compile this information into a Neighborhood Watch list
Create an e-mail address list on your computer so the Neighborhood Watch Captain/s can send messages to those participating.
Distribute Materials to participating households
Cover sheet saying thank you for signing up and The Neighborhood Watch list which includes each participating household. Can distribute by hand or email.
And remember, others who have formed their Neighborhood Watch groups can be available to help you. There are also periodic meetings for the Neighborhood Watch captains to get together to share information.