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Have any of you who live in rural areas tried a neighborhood block watch? Was it effective? How engaged were you? What is the general procedure? Any suggestions to be more effective, what worked and what didn’t? We do have a program in our county.
We have had a rash of locked mailbox thefts recently so want to make this stop by posting a block watch sign plus engaging more eyes and ears. We are close to a city but are in an isolated thumb of the county that doesn’t see much sherif activity. There will be around eight homeowners who will be involved in a one block radius if they all are interested. These are 5 acre parcels or more so about 55 acres total. Most are employed outside the home but several of us are self-employed, retired and/or SAHMs. It was surprising that our mailbox which is not a locked one was not touched.
Have any of you who live in rural areas tried a neighborhood block watch? Was it effective? How engaged were you? What is the general procedure? Any suggestions to be more effective, what worked and what didn’t? We do have a program in our county.
We have had a rash of locked mailbox thefts recently so want to make this stop by posting a block watch sign plus engaging more eyes and ears. We are close to a city but are in an isolated thumb of the county that doesn’t see much sherif activity. There will be around eight homeowners who will be involved in a one block radius if they all are interested. These are 5 acre parcels or more so about 55 acres total. Most are employed outside the home but several of us are self-employed, retired and/or SAHMs. It was surprising that our mailbox which is not a locked one was not touched.
I don't know if it has to be an 'official' block watch? Usually, if you have a problem like your mailbox, you tell the neighbors that you get along with and they keep an eye out for problems. We never kept our mailbox locked. Our problems had more to do with kids with baseball bats or large firecrackers. If we heard and explosion in the middle of the night it was usually our mailbox getting blown up or a raccoon being cooked on a transformer. It is hard to catch the ones in the middle of the night. Usually it is a fad that goes away with time. Most of the time they would not hit the same area twice in a short period of time.
Our mailbox is about 400 feet from our house and impossible to keep and eye on all the time. I have never replaced it with an expensive mailbox; that is like putting a bullseye on the side. Sometimes we thought about giving up and getting PO box at the Post Office; but it would have been an inconvenience. So we survived for a good forty years with minor problems from time to time.
Ours is 600’ from our house. I can’t see neighbors’ mailboxes at all as they are along the road and obscured by a thick grove of evergreens.
No one has hit them with bats or blown them up. This is the first time they have been broken into. No fad; we have tweakers in the city. The problem is too many new neighbors that we don’t know well in a gentrifying area. We get along with them a# we wave but have not really spoke with them. Maybe this will enable us to get better acquainted.
Ours is 600’ from our house. I can’t see neighbors’ mailboxes at all as they are along the road and obscured by a thick grove of evergreens.
No one has hit them with bats or blown them up. This is the first time they have been broken into. No fad; we have tweakers in the city. The problem is too many new neighbors that we don’t know well in a gentrifying area. We get along with them a# we wave but have not really spoke with them. Maybe this will enable us to get better acquainted.
Most of us want a secure mailbox so go ahead and contact your new neighbors and tell them the problems the others are having. It will give you that opportunity to get better acquainted and there might be an opportunity to stop the problem. If they or their kids were responsible for the problems you would be telling them the neighborhood is watching. If they are the offenders or know the perpetrators they might stop for the time being and all you did is ask for their help.
Hopefully it will just be a case of getting better acquainted and that should help all of you!
Facebook is the new neighborhood watch. I live in a semi-rural area of historically 5+acre parcels also. In our area we have several very active facebook Groups in our surrounding towns and local neighborhoods that are “community crimewatch” groups. I belong to community crimewatch groups for the nearest surrounding small towns plus one private group created for the dozen homes in our neighborhood area, plus there’s next-door which is becoming more popular. People are so vigilant in our area the reality and the joke is that you can’t drive slow through here without someone posting a picture of your car on Facebook asking if anyone knows this car. :-)
And the purpose isn’t the only negative, it ends up being a good community resource when there are lost dogs or bad weather or power outages or other neighborhood issues. People are online all the time… Take advantage of it! Get to know your neighbors. I bet our area is not unique, there’s probably already Facebook and next-door groups active in your area.
Facebook is the new neighborhood watch. I live in a semi-rural area of historically 5+acre parcels also. In our area we have several very active facebook Groups in our surrounding towns and local neighborhoods that are “community crimewatch” groups. I belong to community crimewatch groups for the nearest surrounding small towns plus one private group created for the dozen homes in our neighborhood area, plus there’s next-door which is becoming more popular. People are so vigilant in our area the reality and the joke is that you can’t drive slow through here without someone posting a picture of your car on Facebook asking if anyone knows this car. :-)
And the purpose isn’t the only negative, it ends up being a good community resource when there are lost dogs or bad weather or power outages or other neighborhood issues. People are online all the time… Take advantage of it! Get to know your neighbors. I bet our area is not unique, there’s probably already Facebook and next-door groups active in your area.
We use Next Door (is this okay to name?) to communicate in our neighborhood and others. Because we live close to town, we also get many city neighborhoods. Most of my neighbors belong so if there is a neighborhood concern, we can spread the word. It mostly stays apolitical but sometimes dissolves into rants or anger. Several are also friends on FB. Those 2 SM platforms is how I found out.
Our neighborhood is thickly treed so we can’t see anyone from our home, let alone mailboxes. I can see one neighbor if I go outside. Even if I walk the 600’ to the mailbox, I still can only see the one neighbor. At night, I can see a few lights through the trees.
I asked several if they were interested in a block watch. I am awaiting replies. I mostly want the signs to deter would be thieves. We are the only retired ones so it will probably be up to us to coordinate it and do daily patrols. I need the exercise anyway and the pups are only too happy to go for walks. One area is an undated “gated” community so I will need permission to walk on their private road.
Our neighborhood used to be more communal and smaller. The new people moving in are all white collar professionals. We were blue collar but it is now gentrifying. Million dollar homes are being built. Maybe the block watch will get us closer.
Facebook groups do this all the time. It's very useful. Everyone in the neighborhood group is immediately notified of robberies, etc., and with all the security cams around now, we can all share videos of suspicious cars and suspicious people in the neighborhood.
It's also helpful for nearby bear and cougar sightings.
I just found out that the thieves were targeting mailboxes for tax info. We haven’t received several documents so first thing Monday I am making some phone calls. Damn criminals!
Definitely let the police know. Damaging a mail box is a federal offense
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