About | communitywatchcanada

Strategy

We are organized Facebook groups across Canada of neighborhood residents who watch out for criminal and suspicious behavior and report it to local law enforcement to help prevent crime and promote cooperation among residents and police. People looking out for people to make our community safer and the best that it can be. Together we CAN make a difference.

Community Problems Addressed

Every day, neighborhoods across Canada confront any number of property and violent crimes and threats of crime. This strategy of sharing among Facebook GROUPS and FAN PAGES attempts to provide local law enforcement with additional eyes and ears to watch out for all types of criminal activity and promote neighborhood security. Community crime watches can address all types of crime, but the Facebook GROUPS primary focus is typically residential burglary and other crimes around the home, such as larceny, vandalism, missing people, missing items and animals. Our presence can also help deter criminals who would attempt to conduct drug- or gang-related activities in the neighborhood.

Key Components

Every Admin of a town or city with a Facebook GROUP are sharing and discussing community safety as a team within a PRIVATE Facebook GROUP. The towns or cities of Canada are divided into Facebook GROUPS, where in turn we share anything that is a concern PROVINCE WIDE to a Facebook FAN PAGE for each Province of Canada for anyone to share from Facebook. Our sharing network can be organized to pass along information about crime and security to residents instantly. The watch can provide a variety of safety and security information to residents. We share posts from media sources regarding training on recognizing and reporting suspicious activity and on home and neighborhood security. The watch FAN PAGES help expand the shares of posts to get more people looking or aware.

Key Partnerships

Local law enforcement officials and residents form the crucial partnership in this strategy. Having Admins monitoring the Facebook GROUPS ensure the watch program's success and provide the basis for a sustained and broad-based community effort to promote public safety. Local media aid watch groups by publicizing recruitment drives and successes in crime prevention through citizen involvement. Involving members of the GROUPS also make the program more comprehensive.

Potential Obstacles

Community Watch is NOT a group of vigilantes or lawless people taking the law into their own hands. Community Watch citizens do not take the place of local law enforcement, enforcing the law, or apprehending criminals. Apathy, civic disengagement, and fear are among the most common obstacles to forming a Neighborhood Watch. Doing it through media also brings new common obstacles like Cyber-Bullying and Bad Behavior. Education, usually via law enforcement, or from the media, can overcome such obstacles. The potential for displacing crime to other neighborhoods is a concern for law enforcement; they seek to involve as many neighborhoods as possible to offset the potential for displacement. Also, volunteer momentum can wane if the program is narrowly focused and does not allow for a variety of roles that use residents' talents and respect their varying degrees of comfort with visible involvement in public safety programs. Sharing awareness along with 0 Tolerance for bad behavior in our GROUPS. Sharing posts of good behavior is key to a positive environment within the GROUPS.

Examples of Success and Results

On July, of 2013, one person took it upon himself to create a Facebook GROUP for Crime Watch in their neighborhood in response to an increase in property crime and drug activity in the rural community [population approx. 10,000]. Police calculated that a large percent of the crimes in the area during that year were property crimes committed by those involved in buying and selling drugs. Now there are Facebook GROUPS for towns and cities all over Canada, along with Facebook FAN PAGES for each Province, and Admins to monitor them. A central PRIVATE GROUP for Admins, even a webpage to share the programs SUCCESS STORIES. All this created by the Admins involved with the program and members of the community.

The local Facebook GROUPS serve as the eyes and ears for locals and Police and aims to prevent acts of property crime. As a consequence of the COMMUNITY WATCH GROUP'S efforts, there is hopes for no more graffiti nor any other acts of vandalism. Locating stolen vehicles has been proven to work by sharing to the groups, people noticing from abroad now knowing instantly when to keep their eyes peeled and report to police. In addition, enforcing local ordinances in the future like the late-night juvenile curfew, and other crime prevention techniques could certainly help residents by having fewer youth on the streets and in trouble.

Since July, of 2013 COMMUNITY WATCH CANADA has promoted the Neighborhood Watch concept, encouraged the Facebook community throughout CANADA to pool resources in crime prevention efforts, for example in Alberta promoting C.O.P. (Citizens On Patrol) program where the community has a chance to take part in neighboorhood walks with police. Shared crime prevention information with thousands of Facebook users, and coordinated awareness concerns, like local Cyber-Bullying contests, where communities demonstrate their desire for peaceful neighborhoods through Facebook GROUPS.

Why:

There has been lots of positive feedback from creating Community Watch Facebook Groups for every town in Canada, so we plan on continuing and recruiting locals for every town who would like to Admin them. Keeping all the Facebook Groups linked together certainly strenghtens our numbers and success. Would you like a Facebook Community Watch Group for your town? Have you already created a Community Group of your own and would like to join us and help share crime watch information across Canada? Would you like to participate in being an Admin of a Community Watch GROUP for your local town? Message an Admin on any of the groups to have one created for you or to have your community group linked with us. Thank you so much for all your support. Let's keep our kids safe, and keep our eyes open!

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Success Stories