Armed Neighbor Watch

[BumpShadow]

Must be nice. Here the worst part of town is also where the police HQ is! explain that one to me lol.

Still 56% would support an armed watch. Very interesting. But Bacon is good, too.

 

[mcolford]

I live in a nice rural town, with more cops than I can shake a stick at, and we all stand strong for the good book and our guns. I know most of my neighbors have AT LEAST one firearm (mostly shotguns and the like), and I trust each and every one of them.

There are times (evenings) when my mom is home alone, and she isnt all too handy with a firearm, but she knows im seconds away, and I keep a loaded handgun on me. I like to keep an eye out for my neighbors, just as well as they keep an eye out our direction, thats just the type of neighbors we are to each other. Guess Im lucky to not live in a big city/rough neighborhood.

Would I hire some private company that "might" protect me? No. Neighborhood watch? Maybe, depends on how well its organized, etc.


-MColford

 

[hookedonjeep]

you can't go wrong with bacon....... as for roving bands of itchy fingers, I keep wierd hours, and would hate to have to exchange lead with neighbors....

 

[BumpShadow]

intersting people keep useing phrases like "roving band", and "armed vigilantes". I think we can all agree that would be a bad thing. But thats not whats being talked about here. We're talking about well organized law-abiding citizens deterring criminal behavior through a show of force. I mean, if your going to try and put a negative spin on it because you disagree, at least be interesting. maybe something like;

"OMG, a band of marauding machine gun toting minute-men!"

Also, how is one lone vigilante a reponsible citizen, but a group of responsible citizens are a bunch of rogue vigilantes?

 

[goinggreyfast]

We've got that. It's called "the police"

Ding, ding, ding!!! This man's a winner!

I know, I know, I know. In large cities--like Indy--it's different. I lived in Pontiac, MI for a while 20+ years ago. We had some crack dealers move in the townhouse a few doors down. One night, all hell broke lose and there was a free for all in the courtyard for all to see. There was probably about 15 people out there going at it too. Myself and my neighbors stood on our porches with ballbats, clubs, shotguns, rifles, etc. to assure the riot did not end up in the home of an innocent resident.

When the cops FINALLY showed up, they hit their sirens about a half a block away and the offending individuals scattered like cockroaches when one turns on the light. The next day, some very large men from our little courtyard showed up in force and "suggested" that they find somewhere else to do business--by the end of the week--or we were going to start taking pictures and documenting everyone who comes and goes, license plates to vehicles, etc. They were gone by the end of the week.

 

[jsharmon7]

It would be important first off not to think of it as a police force. It would be a security force organized as a 501(c)(3) public charity. As such, it would follow the security guards' maytra,"observe and report". The primary goal of the patrol would be to be seen, observe, and report. I am a security guard, and even though I could never be mistaken for a police officer, the combination of a uniform and badge is a powerful physiological deterrent. Only one guard at a time would really be necessary, maybe 2. If they see something, the first thing to do is call 911, then observe from a safe distance. The weapon mostly also works as a physiological deterrent. But also for self-defense, or in an extreme case, defense of others. Just like any other open carry. No hero stuff.

When I say leadership, I use it loosely. You would have basic members, middle management, and then board of directors. If Jimbo doesn't want to listen anymore, he doesn't need to participant.

Lastly, it would not be a 24/7 patrol. Rather, it would be a 30min-1 hour foot patrol once, maybe twice, a day during the time of day that your neighborhood is a the most risk of something like assult or robbery. Night time patrol wouldn't be done. I don't know if anyone here know's about spotcrime.com, but its a site where you punch in an address, and every incident reported to police in the gerenal area in last 30 days or so is listed and located on a google map. A group could use this to find the best and most productive time to pratrol.

Anyway, just my . hope there was some useful information in it.

I understand now what you mean, and it would be much safer than what I was picturing in my mind. There would still be a lot of issues to work out. I think that just doing a "patrol" or two a day wouldn't really do much in the way of preventing crime, and it would be hard to find enough dedicated people to do much more than that. Crime isn't restricted to (or really even more likely to occur at) certain times so it would be hit or miss if a person walking through a neighborhood would actually spot something or not. Your best bet would be if the local media did a story about the group to get the word out that people in the neighborhood are watching. Even that would be a longshot, but it would be more effective. Also, you'd want to be very sure that the people enlisted for this group know what to look for and report to the police, and what to ignore. It would do you no good if people had no idea what activity should be investigated. Likewise, it would do you no good to call the police every time a dog barked, an unknown vehicle passed by, or group of juveniles walked through. I still think that leadership would be an issue. Sure you could tell a guy he's no longer part of the group but he could still go patrol the neighborhoods all he wants. He'd just be doing it on his own rather than with the group. The group would have no more or less authority to do it than he would.

I know this is all hypothetical, and it would be great if people were that willing to get involved in their communities. This is just my opinion obviously, but it seems like an unnecessary extra step to have armed residents doing daily patrols. I think that like-minded folks meeting up every month to share information would be more effective. You could make a list of cell phone numbers so that if you saw something you weren't sure about you could contact someone and check with them. You could make a list of residents who will be away on vacation so neighbors would know: who may be stopping by, what vehicles should be there, whether any lights will be left on, etc. I know my neighbor lets me know whenever he's going to be out of town so that if I see someone around his house I'll know they shouldn't be there. Maybe you could come up with a notification system if somebody in the neighborhood has a death in the family. Sadly, some thieves read the obituaries and check addresses because they know the house will be empty during the funeral. Maybe you could even have a representative from your local PD or Sheriff's office come out and share some tips and training as to what to look out for for those who don't know. I think the key to any of this, though, is finding enough concerned residents who will put forth the time and effort to making it work. If you live in a neighborhood like that, I would bet you don't have too many issues to begin with.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Ahhh, I was wondering when someone who is missing the point completely would post something like that to be cute. Took longer than I expected, though. O well.

There's no point missed. You want to play policeman but you don't want or can't get on a police force.

If there is a better way to "organise" then you should share your organisation skills with ORGANISED law enforcement. If you are a better LEADER or have a better LEADER than the police have then you should be leading people who WANT to follow enough they've made it a job.

Citizens have a right to be armed. They have a right to defend their property and band together as neighbors in mutual defense or to check on each other's property.

You need to move in to some little neighborhood with a militant HOA you could rise to the top of.

 

[Redemption]

I would prefer anonymous vigilantes just do what they need to do.

 

[Andy219]

I voted bacon, I haven't had breakfast yet.

 

[cbseniour]

Armed neighborhood watches sound to me like guns for hire. Notoriously not a good way to protect yourself. If you can hire them so can the other guy. With a little imagination I can see all kinds of opportunity for abuse.

I'll just sleep with a 45acp next to the bed and a dog nearby.

 

[goinggreyfast]

Armed neighborhood watches sound to me like guns for hire. Notoriously not a good way to protect yourself. If you can hire them so can the other guy. With a little imagination I can see all kinds of opportunity for abuse.

I'll just sleep with a 45acp next to the bed and a dog nearby.

 

[jbombelli]

YouTube - Reno 911! Neighborhood Watch

 

[Cemetery-man]

So, the way I see it, 39 members so far are opposed or undecided to the idea of people legally walking around in public with firearms on them. Hmm.

 

[BumpShadow]

There's no point missed. You want to play policeman but you don't want or can't get on a police force.

If there is a better way to "organise" then you should share your organisation skills with ORGANISED law enforcement. If you are a better LEADER or have a better LEADER than the police have then you should be leading people who WANT to follow enough they've made it a job.

Citizens have a right to be armed. They have a right to defend their property and band together as neighbors in mutual defense or to check on each other's property.

You need to move in to some little neighborhood with a militant HOA you could rise to the top of.

Dude, just stop. Your just making yourself sound stuipd. Yes you have totally missed the point. It's not playing cop or militia or anything like that. It's about trying to prevent crimes from happening that are able to happen because police can't be everywhere 24/7.

Crimes, especially random pity ones, like assult and theft, are easy and relative risk free because of the speed and anonymity of crime itself. by the time the police arrive, if at all, the perp is long gone and the chances of the victim id'ing him are slim to none. A group that has a vested interest in the local area could theoretically scare or ever stop such crimes from happening.

 

[ocsdor]

How about extending the castle doctrine to include private property (i.e. real estate)?

 

[MCFD713]

Yes...But in my case i wish more of my neighbors would run off door to door sales people and the guys that dig through our trash can on trash day like I do. In the case of my break in a had at least 3 sales people a week for about a month before the break in, and none after and they were all selling for companies i'd never heard of, one even questioned our security system. At the time it didn't raise a red flag,sure will next time. As for the trash diggers what better way to case houses than to see what people are trashing, receipts, packaging etc.

 

[Hiker1911]

Let's start by burning one or more outside light bulbs (or floods) when it's late or middle of the night.

A dark neighborhood is begging for security lights/floods (and watchful residents).

 

[Gareth]

Sorry folks, my wife and I hit the hay around 8:00-9:00 PM. By this time, we're exhausted, and certainly in no shape to perform any kind of neighborhood guard duty.

Now, I think that if all those energetic young folks who are out at all hours of the night yippin' and yappin' anyway were to volunteer their services to the community by becoming armed watchdogs, I'd support them 100%. It would also be a great way to instill a sense of discipline and personal responsibility in these often aimlessly floundering youngsters.

 

[GoDawgs]

YouTube - Reno 911! Neighborhood Watch

Glad you remembered this, I miss that show.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Dude, just stop. Your just making yourself sound stuipd. Yes you have totally missed the point. It's not playing cop or militia or anything like that. It's about trying to prevent crimes from happening that are able to happen because police can't be everywhere 24/7.

Crimes, especially random pity ones, like assult and theft, are easy and relative risk free because of the speed and anonymity of crime itself. by the time the police arrive, if at all, the perp is long gone and the chances of the victim id'ing him are slim to none. A group that has a vested interest in the local area could theoretically scare or ever stop such crimes from happening.

Thanks for the tip dude. I wouldn't want to make myself look stuipd. You could all get some badges so you won't get each other mixed up while you are out there stopping those assults and id'ing perps and stopping random pity crimes.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=777436

Maybe even get your names embroidered on some concealment vests.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/classic-old-west-styles-denim-concealment-vest.aspx?a=506867

You should defiantly be supreme commandeer, for sure.