Neighborhood watch groups to hold community meeting

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - They've been around for more than five years and they are starting to have an impact on crime in their neighborhoods. Now they want to share their blueprint for success with the rest of Fort Madison.

On Sept. 14, the city's neighborhood watch groups, consisting of 34th Place Neighborhood Watch, Lincoln Neighborhood Watch, and Dry Creek Neighborhood Watch, will hold a community forum in Old Settlers Park. The event is set for 2:30 and will feature a short presentation on the history of the city's current watch groups, a small information session on crime stats in the community, and a question and answer session.

Free hot dogs and water will be provided at the meeting.

Steve Howard of the 34th Place group and Larry Lee Stewart of the Lincoln group made a presentation to the Fort Madison City Council two weeks ago about statistics on crime in the areas of the city that are served by neighborhood watch groups.

Stewart said it's apparent the watch groups are seeing results in helping keep crime down in the watch neighborhoods.

Lorie Seager, another founding member of the 34th Place watch, said efforts are not only deterring crime, but helping move those that are engaged in criminal activity out of the area.

"When you're seen in your neighborhoods and put flyers up on doors and stuff, people look at them and, if they are up to no good, they don't want to stay in that neighborhood very long," Seager said.

Stewart said the forum will last close to an hour.

"We're gonna spend about 15 minutes to talk about the history of the watch groups," Stewart said.

"And then I'm going to show a map of the city and show all the crime... everything. I'm going to show you, if my stats still hold true - and I believe I was right and accurate, it should look like blue beacons around the groups and red everywhere else."

Everyone in the city is welcomed to attend the forum.

Stewart said there would 20 minutes to update the community on the statistics of crime and then a wrap up of how other people can start up a neighborhood watch.

"There's one key message here which is it's not as hard as you think," Stewart said. "Setting up a group is not hard. We know this, you just have to keep it relevant."

Seager said one of the more difficult parts of the neighborhood watch groups is keeping patrols active.

"We're all guilty of finding excuses, but we know it's an important part of doing it. But we've also found that we take different paths to work or walk in the neighborhood and people see you," she said.

"What people don't understand about the neighborhood watch is that I lived in that house for 11 years and I didn't know anybody, didn't care to know anybody. Now I know 10 blocks of neighbors - know everyone one of their names from phone trees and now I care about them."

Howard said despite the patrols and observation, when something happens in the neighborhood, someone in the watch is listening and acting.

"If something goes down, there's 11 radios in our area and I guarantee somebody's going to answer their radio," Howard said.

Stewart, said the Lincoln group has 10 radios and said people quickly react to issues including helping look for a lost child.

Stewart said he's told police officers that the neighborhood watch groups are advocates and can be supplemental to local policing efforts.

"We are trying new things. We're not just going out as individual groups and saying 'we're going to do it this way'. We're working together collaboratively to get things done."

Howard said the 34th Place group has all the details worked out to start the group and others wanting to start groups in their neighborhoods will have that blueprint ready for them.

The 34th Place group was the first group to get started of the current active groups. The Dry Creek group and the Lincoln group were started afterward, with the guidance of the the 34th Place Watch.

The 34th Place group has strong enough support that they have donated flags to the city to replace worn flags and has given scholarships the past two years to local seniors.

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