Police promote neighbourhood watch
In Belize the term neighbourhood watch usually refers to thieves who watch your house, waiting for you to leave. But if one man has his way, the concept of a vigilant community will one day turn the tide against crime.
Joe Sampson, Natl. Coordinator, Neighbourhood Watch
“I personally saw a situation where a crime was in progress in King’s Park and the alarm went off and in less than five minutes police cars were coming from all over the place. So that is a good example of how that programme can work.”
Jacqueline Woods
Neighbourhood Watch is not a new concept, but it was not until recently that government recognized the programme as one of the key elements needed to fight crime. In June, the Ministry of National Security hired Joe Sampson, an expert in community leadership, to work along with the police to improve the existing programme and get more neighbourhoods involved. Today, there are approximately twenty-seven watch programmes across the country.
Joe Sampson
“Primarily, we would want interests arising out of the different communities, or specifically, neighbourhoods that are concerned with incidents happening or also concerned with preventing incidents from happening. Because a neighbourhood programme is actually a programme of the community working in cooperation with the police to fight crime, to prevent crime, to eliminate crime and reduce it and in every aspect dealing with crime.”
The programme addresses all kinds of crime from petty to capital.
Jacqueline Woods
“How does it work?”
Joe Sampson
“Again, that has a lot to do with what they have decided in their area. Some areas decide on some type of alarm system, for example, the most common one is the whistle; you see a crime in progress, you blow your whistle. Your neighbours have whistles, they blow, and there are some designated people who would immediately get in touch with the police, either by the telephone or by a radio if they have a radio system, and the police react immediately.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Are you surprised that in Belize City, where crime seems to be the most prevalent here in the country that there are only two such watches in place?”
Joe Sampson
“Not, really, really surprising. I would want to say they there are probably informal watches in Belize City, because in our society it is standard that people lookout for each other and people support each other. So it’s just a matter trying to organise these informal watches.”
It is not yet clear how successful the programme has been, but Sampson says the feedback has been encouraging. Today, neighbourhoods are being encouraged to include other activities in their watches to prevent crime.
Joe Sampson
“Once a crime happens interest rises. As soon as people forget, interest dies down. So what we are trying to do is encourage the neighbourhood watch groups not only to be concerned with fighting crime as such, as a singular item, but to participate in different activities in the groups and in their neighbourhoods. Vista del Mar is very, very interesting, because the neighbourhood watch there has also been involved in a park project, where they have been financing, finding the resources and establishing a park in the community.”
If you would like to start a neighbourhood watch in your community, kindly get in touch with Sampson at the police department.
Today there are four neighbourhood watches in Corozal, two in Orange Walk, three in San Pedro, four in Dangriga, three in Punta Gorda and two in Belize City.
