Residents interested in Neighborhood Watch

After Juan Tobo of Farmingdale was arrested and charged with burglarizing three West End homes last month, one neighbor at the Oct. 27 West End Neighbors Civic Association meeting on suggested forming a Neighborhood Watch program.

“On many of the blocks we don’t even know who our neighbors are anymore,” she said. “There’s been a lot of movement.” For Lt. Bruce Meyer of the Long Beach Police Department, this was the first time he had heard someone express interest in the community-based program, in which neighbors organize and have block captains who relay information on suspicious activities or crimes to police. The city’s Neighborhood Watch program was cancelled back in the 1980s dues to lack of state funding, he said.

“Residents were organized and instructed on what suspicious activities to report to the police, methods of making their home more secure and their streets safer,” Meyer said of the program that was started during a crime-ridden time in Long Beach’s history.

Meyer cited stricter laws, computer tracking of crimes, improved investigative techniques, active community policing and changing demographics as reasons why the department hasn’t brought back the program.

Meyer said that he doesn’t know if there is a need to have a structured program like a Neighborhood Watch, but said police are ready to assist any neighborhood group that would like to organize a block association.

“I think the people feel comfortable reaching out to the police department, reaching out directly to the officer that has the beat,” Meyer said. “I think we have good communication with the public.”

Long Beach residents interested in starting a Neighborhood Watch program can contact the LBPD’s Community Resource Unit at 431-1800.

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