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Residents determined to eliminate crime in communities
But it was another burglary at her home two weeks later that drove her to personally take charge.
“I talked to a few people in the community, and we began to meet informally to plan what we needed to do to start a Neighborhood Crime Watch,” she said.
Hughes and her family weren’t the only burglary victims. The community was experiencing a rash of burglaries and other crimes, and this was the impetus for meetings in February where Greene County Sheriff Richard Ketchem and Trooper Bart Lemansky of the state police barracks in Waynesburg, showed up to offer their assistance in helping residents establish a Neighborhood Crime Watch.
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Meanwhile, about 30 miles to the northwest, in the village of Wind Ridge, another Neighborhood Crime Watch was taking form.
Holly Carpenter and Marty Dinsmore, two quite determined women, also sought the advice from Lemansky, and on April 27, more than 100 people attended an organization meeting at Harveys Grange in Graysville.
At that meeting, Lemansky was rather blunt. “The police can’t single-handedly make your neighborhood Mayberry again. You’re going to have to help yourselves do that,” he said.
Carpenter and Dinsmore have been battling with Richhill Township supervisors to get street lights on Ferrell Avenue in Wind Ridge, a place the women agree is a public safety issue because of the lack of lighting.
Hughes, Carpenter, Dinsmore and law enforcement agree the purpose of the crime watch is to do just that – be on the watch.
“Residents should be looking for out-of-ordinary things, such as strange cars driving up and down streets, people they do not recognize walking around and looking at houses, especially during the day when people are at work,” Hughes said.
When Ketchem spoke at the Mt. Morris meeting in February, he explained to residents how to make their houses safer and showed them how to report suspicious activity in their neighborhood.
People in the West Greene area are still on edge over the home invasion and murder in March of Betty Jane McClellan and the injury to her husband, Jacob.
It seems that the crimes in Mt. Morris are more of the break-in variety, while drug dealing seems pervasive in the western part of the county, most likely because of its rural geography.
Both the Mt. Morris and West Greene crime watch organizations have established block captains and coordinators, who are essential for making the program effective.
Police have told these groups they don’t want six or seven people calling the barracks about a crime activity. They want one designated person to make that call and it is usually the block captain, or coordinator.
Block captains should be designated for every 10-15 houses/units, and they should be directly involved with their immediate neighbors. The block captain’s responsibilities may include:
¦ Acting as liaison between block residents and the coordinator
¦ Establishing a “telephone chain” by compiling and distributing a current list of names, addresses, and telephone numbers of block residents;
¦ Visiting and inviting new residents to join, as well as notifying them of meetings and training sessions;
n Contacting each neighbor to discuss possible crime problems, requirements for assistance, and suggestions for program improvement.
“We want to make sure people do not over react,” Hughes said. “We want the residents to think about what they are seeing.” And, she said, if someone witnesses a crime in progress, call the police right ways, not the call list protocol.
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