Neighborhood Watch
Visalia Police Department encourages citizens to take an active role in making their neighborhood and community a safe place to live, work, and play. Being a part of a Neighborhood Watch is one of the most effective ways that residents can work with the Visalia Police Department to help achieve this goal.
We rely on informed residents to alert us of when criminal or suspicious activity is taking place. Neighborhood Watch is one of the most effective and cost effective ways to prevent crime and reduce the fear of crime in our community. Neighborhood Watch forges a partnership between the Visalia Police Department and your neighborhood to fight the underlying causes of crime. Neighborhood Watch is built upon, and most successful, when residents are actively involved in working with Visalia Police Department to mutually reduce crime in our community.
The goal of the Visalia Police Department’s Neighborhood Watch program is to educate community residents regarding their roles and responsibilities in the prevention of crime, and to encourage them to take active measures to prevent crime. The program calls upon residents to step forward and assist the police in organizing the community into a cohesive unit working towards the goal of building a safer, crime-free neighborhood. Neighborhood Watch groups discuss neighborhood crime problems and prevention measures with the objective of developing solutions to local problems.
Each Neighborhood Watch group should have a Block Captain. The Block Captain is pivotal in the success of a Neighborhood’s group. The Block Captain is a community member who acts as the liaison between the neighborhood and the Visalia Police Department. The liaison is maintained on an informal basis and within the framework of the Neighborhood Watch group. Information (crime prevention tips, crime updates, etc.) from the Visalia Police Department is passed along through the Block Captains and then disseminated to the rest of the neighborhood group.
When a neighborhood decides to form a Neighborhood Watch group, it should follow these steps:
Step 1: The first step in starting a Neighborhood Watch groups is to talk to your neighbors about getting involved. Neighborhood Watch groups are the most effective when the whole neighborhood is involved. While Visalia Police Department doesn’t have a minimum number of houses needed to participate in the program, it’s important to try to involve everyone in the neighborhood, whether they are home owners or renters. If you’re having trouble engaging your neighbors, you can contact the Community Outreach Coordinator for conversation starters or flyers with information regarding the benefits of a Neighborhood Watch program.
Step 2: Contact Community Outreach to set up a meeting. This meeting will be facilitated by personnel and usually takes place in the neighborhood. We will provide flyers to hand out to your neighbors, inviting them to the meeting.
559-713-4147
Step 3: At the meeting, we will discuss any crime issues specific to the neighborhood, residential security tips, how to recognize suspicious and/or criminal activity and how to report that activity to Visalia Police Department. There will be ample time for Q&A and neighbors will also have the opportunity to meet and get to know one another. We will also use the meeting time to determine who the Block Captain for the group will be.
Step 4: Maintaining an active group is important to keeping your neighborhood crime-free. Don’t lose the momentum from the meeting! Keep neighbors engaged by hosting a social get together every few months. Ideas include hosting a summer BBQ or potluck, a holiday cookie exchange, a neighborhood clean-up, etc. Be sure to put in place a way to communicate with everyone on the block in case of an emergency. Ideas include a phone list, text message or e-mail group, Facebook group, or Nextdoor.com.
Neighborhood Watch Signage: The City of Visalia and the Visalia Police Department do not provide Neighborhood Watch Signs. Signs are available for purchase online at https://www.nnwi.org/. The signs cannot be installed on existing City structures, this includes but is not limited to street signs or streetlights. Signs are only allowed to be installed on residents' private property behind the City sidewalk. Signs must be placed eight feet high to prevent harm to pedestrians or can be placed on a fence located in a highly visible location.
National Neighborhood Watch Institute FAMILY DATA SHEET 2018.pdf
National Neighborhood Watch Institute FAMILY DATA SUMMARY SHEET 2018.pdf
National Neighborhood Watch Institute HOUSEHOLD INVENTORY 2018.pdf
National Neighborhood Watch Institute TELEPHONE TREE 2018.pdf