Is it merely a few people constantly patrolling an area? Is it an entire neighborhood looking out for one another? Is it people being friendly and involved with one another?” My answer is, that it is all three of the answers to these questions, and much more. A watch can be all of us just walking around doing as we normally do, but communicating with each other. Due to the era in which we live and communicate, that is a very real possibility! My name is John and I was recently asked to run the Mott Park Neighborhood Watch. That might just be, because of the fact that for the six years that I’ve lived in my park I’ve been asking to become involved in/to help with the neighborhood watch! After the first meet & greet I held at the White Horse Tavern at the end of March, very interested neighbors offered to help/become a part of this newly forming ‘watch’. With this help, we are going to be developing a very different kind of neighborhood watch than many of you who have lived here for a long time are used to. Early on, Nada asked me to meet with the safety leaders/neighborhood watch leaders in College Park, Mike Herriman and Craig Wolcott, (who is part of Flint Neighborhoods United) and to pattern what we are going to be doing in Mott Park after how CCNA’s neighborhood watch functions. I attended a number of meetings, gathered a lot of useful information, evaluated it and have shared this with other volunteers who want to participate in our watch; we have decided to go along the same lines as they are, but with a slight difference…we are going to be a very inclusive group. Inclusivity has many distinct advantages over exclusively. Chief among them is more eyes on the streets. We also have decided to develop teams/pairs of block captains. A single block captain has to be a “fireman”, on call all the time; since people tend to get ‘burned out’ after a short period of time with these sorts of programs, it was decided that having block captain teams would function better. Due to the new policies involving Kettering University, McLaren Medical Center and Hurley Medical Center, we will now have vehicular security patrolling throughout Mott Park and surrounds. We are very grateful that these fine institutions will be a strong presence in our neighborhood. One aspect of our current neighborhood watch will include efforts to provide preventative measures that volunteers can help bring to those who cannot do these things for themselves. We are going to visit, one home at a time, assisting folks who need help clearing brush/shrubs, repair motion detection fixtures and any other fixable security issues we encounter. We are also implementing instant exchange of information via computers and phones for all residents of the park.
I ask you again what is a watch? It’s a community working together for everyones’ safety. Thank you! – John Simpson