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Reading Volunteer Crime Watch Program Information

I. Definition

A program involving the joint efforts of the police department and the community designed to enhance neighborhood security, heighten the community's power of observation and to encourage mutual assistance and concern among neighbors.

II. Need

In recent years, neighborhoods have experienced rapid change. The old well established neighborhood has been replaced by a highly transient, growing community where people seek more and more privacy. This lifestyle tends to promote unfamiliarity with neighbors and a corresponding lack of concern. Unfortunately, this enhances the opportunities for the criminal element and increases the community's vulnerability to crime.

It has been shown in communities where there is a strong bond between neighbors that the crime rate can be reduced by as much as 40%. Your participation is vital for the success of this program.

III. Objectives of the Crime Watch Program

The main objective of the Crime Watch Program is to reduce the incidence of crime by:

1. Increasing citizen awareness of burglary and other neighborhood crime through a continuing information program.

2. Training citizens in the means to better property security and assisting them in making their property more secure.

3. Developing a neighborhood action program where neighbors help watch each other's property and report suspicious persons and activities to law enforcement agencies.

4. Encouraging all citizens to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in reporting crime.

5. Enlisting each home, apartment and business in "Operation Identification."