Your Help Needed

In days of long ago, watching the activities in a neighborhood block came naturally. The adults knew when the children were messing in something they shouldn’t. And most everyone kept an eye on strangers who ventured onto their turf.

Times changed. Neighborhoods often feel empty during the day now - children are in school, adults are at work. Block Watch, a longtime city of Spokane program, came into existence as a more formal way to keep an eye on things.

Women and men volunteered to monitor the safety of their neighborhoods. The Block Watch sign evolved into a regular feature on city streets. Police say that neighborhoods with organized Block Watch programs see big safety dividends, because their crime rate is about 25 percent lower than other neighborhoods.

This successful program now needs help to stay alive. Initiative 695 cuts meant the elimination of three positions from the Block Watch program, now operated out of neighborhood police substations.

The program needs volunteers in all neighborhoods. But the need is especially great in the Nevada/Lidgerwood area, because the Neva-Wood COPS substation lost many of its volunteers in a shake-up in early March.

The Block Watch philosophy says we must mind each other’s business in order to keep our neighborhoods safe and crime-free. It means sacrificing a few hours a month for a greater good. Interested in volunteering? The number is 625-3303.