Is Your Neighborhood Watch Program Spying on You, Too?

Pay Attention to Them and Find Out

Photo by Ethan Sykes on Unsplash

Several years ago, a fellow writer encouraged me to begin a spy thriller on this topic, given the crudola that’s been going on. However, I’ve decided I’d better stick to its planned blog post format at this point in time.

My aim is to make some of our writers aware of the benefits that come from participating in your Neighborhood Watch program. Grist for the writer’s mill is a rich by-product, of course, not to be valued lightly.

So much is going on, right under our noses! Much of it is good and kind and charitable; much is definitely not that at all. There is outright, rollicking humor at the sheer stupidity of some of the wannabe criminal element; there is pathos and tragedy to bring you up short and have you thank God for the blessings in your own life; there is vindictiveness.

What is a Neighborhood Watch?

For those unfamiliar with the neighborhood watch concept, many cities and smaller communities in western countries have established formal districts of one to many blocks of homes to encourage residents to be the eyes and ears of their overworked local police force.

Lest anyone reading misunderstand — this is NOT communist-style spying on your neighbors and reporting them to a brutal government. It is also NOT a vigilante organization, or at least, isn’t supposed to be. The police will frown and growl deeply if that develops, and I’ve been its victim.

· First, neighborhood watch means:

o Looking out for the welfare of your family and your neighbors

o Keeping an eye on strangers and unfamiliar vehicles in the neighborhood

o Letting the police know immediately when danger threatens or an activity is downright suspicious.

The police don’t want you confronting anyone; just take in as much detail as you can and call them quickly. You’re a writer. You thrive on details, on getting it right.

· Second, neighborhood watch means being acutely aware of what is going on around you, in order to protect yourself, your family and your neighbors (especially children and senior citizens) from the evil that has sprung up among us…