Cave Junction, Or.- One county with thousands of residents who all want the same thing – safety.
“Safety in numbers. It’s real simple,” Guenter Ambrown, community watch coordinator said.
It’s neighbors helping neighbors to fight off crime and to the be eyes and ears for police when they can’t be there.
“Getting out and talking to your neighbors and watching what’s going on in your neighborhood,” Illinois Valley Fire Chief Dennis Hoke said. “It’s been statistically proven that those areas that have a community watch have less crime.”
Ambrown has been a community watch coordinator for five years. He says the neighborhood groups are comforting not only for him but for his 86-year-old mother too.
“She needs to feel that she lives in a safe neighborhood,” Ambrown said.
Wednesday night’s community watch town hall is the first of its kind. They hope to build relationships with other community watch groups and create more in other neighborhoods.
“We’ve seen a definite impact of those areas that have a neighborhood watch versus those area that do not,” Hoke said.
Hoke says with resources stretched thin the more eyes on the streets the better.
“I recommend all neighborhoods have them,” he said. “It doesn’t make a difference if you are in a rural residential area or a tight knit residential subdivision. We need neighbors watching out for neighbors.”
To learn more about community watch, you can visit the Illinois Valley Community watch page here.
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