THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9607010172
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 197 lines
BERNIE FAY FIRST FELT the need to do something when he took a good look around his Deerwood Trace townhouse development and realized there were problems.
Longtime Aragona resident Gail Nilsen didn't give a whole lot of thought to conditions in her neighborhood until a 3rd Precinct police officer suggested a solution for problems she wasn't even sure the neighborhood had.
Linda Santos, on the other hand, realized that there was a need for action on the day she was driving through the entrance to Charlestown, the development into which she had just moved.
``There was no sign that said `Neighborhood Watch' there,'' the 32-year-old single mother of two said. ``We had it in Windsor Woods West where I had lived before. I figured we needed it here, too.''
Whatever their reasons, the three joined thousands of other Virginia Beach residents who are active in the Neighborhood Watch program that for two decades has relied on civic pride, personal dedication and good old-fashioned nosy neighbors to reduce crime and increase safety in their neighborhoods.
``Citizens have to get involved,'' said Nilsen, ``the police just can't be everywhere.''
Master Police Officer Jeff Eaton with the Crime Prevention Unit, which coordinates the city's 210 Neighborhood Watch programs, couldn't agree more.
``What we're interested in,'' Eaton said, ``is getting people activated. If they're policing themselves, they're doing a big part of the job of keeping the community safe.
``Obviously,'' he added, ``there's not enough (police officers) to go around.''
Not enough, anyway, to find every drug deal that's going down on a street corner, every 40-inch television set that's being loaded into a van when the owners are on vacation or every jewelry box that's being carried out the garage door while the homeowner is hard at work weeding the back yard.
That's where the eyes and ears of the volunteers in the Neighborhood Watch program come in.
``Every neighborhood has its bad street and we were no different,'' Fay said of his 11-street development. ``We had five or six drug houses and the neighborhood was deteriorating.''
In addition to crime problems, the civic league had become inactive, the high cost of insurance had caused the swimming pool to be abandoned and filled in, and a once attractive neighborhood park was overrun with weeds and trash.
Fay, a retiree who is an original owner in the 20-year-old development, decided it was time to do something.
A police officer friend told him about the Neighborhood Watch program and Fay signed on.
That was in February 1995.
Since then, Fay, like Nilsen and Santos, has taken on the job of neighborhood coordinator. Eleven of his neighbors have signed on as block captains and more than 80 percent of the Deerwood Trace residents have agreed to perform the most important task - that of being the eyes and the ears of the neighborhood.
``All they have to do is watch out for their block,'' Fay said. ``If they see anything suspicious, they report it.''
It's the reporting by people who have been trained in what to look for and how to make a report that has made the Neighborhood Watch program so successful.
The chances are much greater that a neighbor will observe a drug deal in progress than they are that an officer will be on site when the money and drugs change hands.
``We ask them to look out for suspicious cars and suspicious people,'' said Eaton, ``and give us a call when they see them.''
In a well-run Neighborhood Watch program, the crime statistics go up initially because more reports are being made. But before long, the tide turns.
A year and a half after the program started in Deerwood Trace, the drug houses are gone and so is a lot of the crime.
``We had the most crime-free month ever in April,'' said Fay.
But the decrease in crime was only part of what happened in the neighborhood near the intersection of Great Neck and Old Great Neck roads.
Since the Neighborhood Watch program began, the civic league has been reactivated, a junior civic league has been formed, family picnics have been held, the park has been cleaned up and is being re-landscaped, codes governing the appearance of property are being enforced and the sense of neighborhood pride has returned.
Nilsen senses a return of pride to her section of Aragona as well.
``I've lived here since I was 10 years old,'' she said. ``My family was one of the first that moved into the village when it was built in the 1950s. When I was a kid, if I did something wrong, my parents knew about it before I got home.''
But things change over the years. Like other longtime residents, Nilsen had seen problem properties where once there had been tidy lawns and heard shots fired in and around homes where quiet families had once lived.
When Police Officer Linda Marson of the 3rd Precinct approached her about starting a Neighborhood Watch program to deal with the problems, she readily signed on.
Her section of Aragona includes 298 homes in the 3,200-home subdivision, which stretches from Virginia Beach Boulevard to Haygood Road and Independence Boulevard to Newtown Road.
When she went door to door asking people to sign up - a process which simply involves residents being willing to identify themselves - the response was overwhelming. ``I don't think I had one person who wasn't willing to give his name and phone number,'' Nilsen said.
Since she helped organize the watch four years ago, residents who had spent most of their time behind closed doors and drawn shades have banded together to share watch duties, raise money for Neighborhood Watch signs (the city provides one, others cost $60 each), hold yard sales and organize picnics.
They also have painted house numbers on neighborhood curbs and sponsored the National Night Out event, held annually on the first Tuesday evening in August.
Both Fay and Nilsen see the relaying of information to the police and city officials as being one of the most important parts of what they do.
``I have to applaud the 3rd Precinct,'' Nilsen said. ``They're readily available to listen, and when we call, we get a response.'' The other part of that process, she admitted, was the reliability of Neighborhood Watchers as reporters.
``(Officials) know they can count on it being good information,'' she said.
Santos, who coordinates the program for the 4th Precinct as well as for her Charlestown neighborhood, found a receptive, if slightly concerned citizenry when she began signing people up for the program.
``They all wanted to know how much it was going to cost them to do it,'' she said of her neighbors in the development near the intersection of Kempsville Road and Centerville Turnpike.
The answer was nothing, at least not as far as money was concerned. All the Neighborhood Watch requires is commitment and a willingness to look out for each other, Santos explained to her dubious neighbors.
Eventually, 271 people signed up in her immediate area of the 1,836-home subdivision.
``Neighbors have gotten to know neighbors,'' Santos said, ``it's a much more friendly environment.''
Added to the usual concerns of drugs and burglaries is a raccoon, which has started calling the neighborhood home.
``Of course we're worried about rabies,'' Santos said, ``and we're talking to Animal Control about him.''
National Night Out also will be a major event in Charlestown, thanks to the Neighborhood Watch program.
``There's always something going on,'' said Santos. ``I think I spend about 75 percent of my time on Neighborhood Watch.''
The returns, she's quick to add, are worth it. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos, including color cover, by CHARLIE MEADS
Bernie Fay, coordinator of the Neighborhood Watch Program in
Deerwood Trace (also pictured on the cover), helps patrol the park
off Old Great Neck Road.
The city provides one Neighborhood Watch sign for each participating
area, but others can be purchased for $60 each.
``We had the most crime-free month ever in April,'' said Bernie Fay
of Deerwood Trace.
``Citizens have to get involved,'' says Gail Nilsen of Aragona.
``The police just can't be everywhere.''
Linda Santos, program coordinator for Charlestown, works with Master
Police Officer Jeff Eaton with the Crime Prevention Unit, which
coordinates the city's 210 Neighborhood Watch programs.
Graphic
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
What is it? A program, coordinated by the Virginia Beach Police
Department's Crime Prevention Unit, which encourages neighbors to
watch out for criminal activity and for each other.
How does it work? Very simply. Through educational programs, the
Police Department keeps citizens advised of crimes in their area and
gives them suggestions for making their property more secure.
Neighbors, for their part, watch each other's property and report
suspicious activity.
What kinds of things do neighborhood watchers look for?
Unknown persons or cars loitering in the neighborhood.
Strangers entering a neighbor's house when the neighbor isn't
home.
Broken or open doors or windows.
Strangers asking questions about neighbors and their whereabouts.
Does it cost a neighborhood anything to join?
No, the Police Department offers support, information and one
Neighborhood Watch sign for free. Additional signs cost $60 each.
In many cases, neighbors have held fund-raisers or passed the hat to
purchase extra signs.
What are the requirements for starting a program?
Basically there are just two.
Eighty percent of the families in a given area have to register.
Volunteers have to be available to act as area coordinators and
block captains.
The Crime Prevention Unit can provide advice on doing both of
those. Give them a call at 563-1006.
National Night Out
The first Tuesday evening in August is set aside each year to
highlight the prevention of neighborhood crime.
Many of the Virginia Beach Neighborhood Watch groups will
celebrate with their own marches, picnics and meetings.
In addition, plans are under way for a citywide National Night
Out event on Aug. 4 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Mount Trashmore. Check with
your Neighborhood Watch coordinator or the Crime Prevention office
at 563-1006 for details. by CNB