Neighborhood Watch and the Prevention of Crimes

Guest post from my buddy Craig Cornett

A concern for minor theft and vandalism is always an issue of mine living in a populated rural area where houses are in close proximity. My neighborhood watch program started a few years back because of an increase in car theft and vandalism around the area where I live. We have had issues with several different types of small crimes, and decided it was time to take action against those offenders. I attended a few of these meetings after hearing about them and they were quite fascinating; they gave me a new perspective into the minds of the vandals and criminals themselves, and showed me tips about how to prevent these crimes from happening in my neighborhood.

First off, I looked for the best home security cameras in Oklahoma to ensure my families protection. I also installed motion censored lights. These have proven to work quite well and are very obnoxious at times, even to me. In our watch we talked about making sure everything was locked up at night, and not letting people see the expensive things that you might have. I started putting my lawn furniture and my grill in my shed at night, securing it tight with a pad lock. I also try to keep the kid’s toys picked up and out of the yard at night so that they don’t magically disappear the next day. I lock the doors to my car, and have just started to consider buying a fence for the yard. My neighborhood watch is mostly centered around prevention, and details simple things you can do to prevent crime from happening. I’m overall happy with the watch and couldn’t think of much to change it! They’re doing a great job.