Rolla Police Department Promotes Neighborhood Watch

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In keeping up with our continued effort to ensure that the entire City of Rolla is covered under the Neighborhood Watch “security blanket”. We are preparing to launch our newest campaign to invoke awareness, recognition and participation in citizens of our community to become involved in taking back your community or preserving the good life as you know it. As you already know, especially if you follow our Rolla Police Department Facebook site, crime is prevalent in Rolla. Each day our officers respond to calls of property destruction, vehicle tampering, residential and business burglaries and theft. Many times these crimes occur right under the nose of potential witnesses who, because of a lack of training or unintentional complacency, allow these criminals to continue to prey on our community. As you may realize by our weekly stats, our officers cannot be on every corner or in every neighborhood at any given time. Most of the time or officers travel from call to call without a lot of time to dedicate to each case.

This is where you come in! We need to re-establish our existing Neighborhood Watch program and instill new programs in areas that have not yet been established. In an effort to bolster this program and to promote awareness, we have divided the City of Rolla into 3 Neighborhood Watch Zones, simply labeled “A”, “B” and “C”. Our awareness campaign will begin by hosting Neighborhood Watch meetings in each of these zones that will be open to the public and in a central location to that particular zone. These meetings will provide information on how to start a NW program or to enhance a program already established. In addition we will use this opportunity to introduce the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) concept where a core group of citizens are trained to respond to help yourself, your family and your neighbors in the event of a catastrophic disaster. Because emergency service personnel will not be able to help everyone immediately, you can make a difference by training in this program to save lives and protect property.

We will also have a representative from the American Red Cross, who will provide information on how that organization operates and what type of programs they offer. They will also offer recruitment information to those who may desire to become a Red Cross volunteer. As you can see, we are showcasing volunteer programs within our community where the citizens of the community unite, receive valuable basic training and become an asset to community betterment and preservation. Our first Neighborhood Watch Zone meeting for area “C” will be held Thursday, May 27, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at the Eugene E. Northern Community Hall at 400 E. 4th Street in Rolla. Everyone, regardless of where you live is encouraged to attend. If you have any questions about any of these programs, contact S/Sgt. Rick Williams at 308-1213. The remaining zone meetings will be held in the following weeks and the dates and locations will be announced.