Public Safety

Neighborhood Watch

by Gardner Neely

The Neighborhood Watch program in Winnona Park has had many lives over the past several decades.  I still hear from long time participants of my generation now in their 50s and 60s and I see the faded stickers on mailboxes, windows and street signs. Especially in times likes these when the economy dips and unemployment rises, theft tends to increase. So, now is a perfect time to do a brief refresher on the basics.

In my experience, the main ingredient for the success of such programs depends on the community mindedness of a few folks on a street, who are willing to share both happy events and unfortunate occurrences, such as crimes, with their neighbors.

Most of the crime on our 10 or so streets that I have seen in my roughly 20 years here, is property crime, such as car break-ins, an occasional home break-in and a few car thefts.  Many of these were perhaps preventable in some way.  Our home was entered through an open porch window behind overgrown shrubs, and the car keys taken from a hook on the kitchen wall in clear view.  It turns out our cat burglar did the same thing to some friends in Great Lakes while they were at church!!  He was caught and sentenced to prison for felony.

Many break-ins are motivated by the “what you see is what you get” theory. Items such as GPS and sounds systems, laptops and purses and flat screen TVs in plan view are very tempting targets. 

Maybe they choose a car with the keys conveniently left in and the engine running while you quickly run inside to grab that something you forgot, as an Avery Street resident recently suffered before Christmas. Then you have the more adventurous thief who goes for the whole car by picking the lock and jumping the ignition in the dark of night from the driveway of a house on Shadowmoor Drive last year. I recall a burglary on Avery near the school where the double doors of the new addition were opened with a screwdriver early in the morning. The thief was lured in by the LED of a Laptop visible from driveway window.  It may have been a construction worker who learned the area at early arrival or a late night partier who was wandering home on Candler Street. You just don’t know who might wander by. The Decatur Police are great, and Winnona Park has the lowest crime rate consistently among the 4 districts of Decatur. Lets make sure we do all we can to keep it that way by doing our part to reduce crime.

After my 2005 burglary I cut back the foundation shrubbery and shored up our flimsy backdoor. I put a simple bar system over my porch windows and painted it white. One other big improvement we did was upgrade the alarm to a mobile signal.  There have been a few recent break-ins, showing signs of professional involvement, where the phone wire was pulled to defeat the call to the alarm company or the police. I hear from my Watch friends from other Atlanta area neighborhood associations there are professional fences who will give a drug addict credit for big screen TVs with no cash needed.

This has increased the ease of Flat Screen TV rewards and the appeal of affluent city neighborhoods such as Inman Park, Candler Park, and soon to be Oakhurst, Kirkwood.

Take a look at the police section of the city of Decatur website (www.decaturga.com) for many tips for being safe and happy in our urban environment.

Contact Gardner Neely at 404-377-2385 or gard.neely@gmail.com, for volunteering to help or serve as block captain for your street.  Click here for the current “Neighborhood Watch” list

Most folks are doing what needs to be done already to protect their families & homes.  Lets keep on  "keeping on", and stay in touch with your immediate neighbors to avoid a problem that can be so demoralizing.

Welcome newcomers/new residents to your street, and offer to pickup recycling bins or newspapers/mailbox clutter when they are away, etc. to avoid the empty house look.

Let them know of the city services and the watch and its purpose.

We have over 15 volunteers as of now, but welcome more.

See the "Online Request for Services" on this page for an Out of Town House Check or to Report Suspicious Activity.

Crime kind of like the weather changes, and I don't want to forget my hat & gloves on a 20 degree winter day!

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