"It's a beautiful day in this neighbourhood, a beautiful day for a neighbour. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?"
The idea of neighbourhoods has dramatically changed since Mr. Rogers first sang those words to children. Today you're luck if you even know your neighbours' names, let alone befriend them.
But New Westminster's Block Watch program - made up of members of the police department and community - has worked hard to make the city a welcoming and friendly place since the '90s. A place where every day is a beautiful day for a neighbour.
"We encourage neighbours to look out for neighbours, and we try and work with them so that they understand all the benefits to preventing crime before it occurs," said Shelley Cole, crime prevention coordinator for the police department.
Cole, along with two police officers, including Const. Michael Blackstock, work together with community block watch groups to improve safety in their various neighbourhoods, or blocks.
"First and foremost, I think is just opening up communication between the police department and the community and knowing what's going on in their neighbourhood," she said.
In New Westminster there are about 100 "blocks" that are part of the program. These blocks range in size, shape and density. They can be traditional blocks on streets and avenues, but also apartment complexes or condominium towers. Some blocks are quite large, while others are only a handful of homes, according to Cole.
Each block has a captain and co-captain who communicate with police. These communications cover an enormous range of information, including safety tips.
"It's a very proactive approach," Blackstock said. "(Policing) can be seen as strictly reactionary (but) this is kind of on the flip side, where we're being proactive and trying to help the people that live here help us to prevent it before it even starts."
The Block Watch program works by encouraging open communication between residents, captains and the police, and this is done by encouraging neighbours to get out on their street and meet each other, Blackstock said.
"It's a sense of safety in numbers. If everybody in your neighbourhood knows everybody and communicates with people living in your neighbourhood, well then you start to watch out for them at the same time," he added.
Watching out for one another can be as easy as knowing what car your neighbour drives or when they typically leave for work. This type of information is important because it makes it easier to recognize suspicious activity, according to Cole and Blackstock.
The police also play an important role in encouraging these interactions between neighbours. It's up to the department to send out notices to Block Watch captains relating to crimes that happened in the blocks' area, including car vandalism, break-ins and more. They will also send out notices about suspicious activity in an area.
"We have busy households. Everyone is working and it's hard, and I think we just need to work harder to find new ways to engage our community to stay involved," she said. "We've done that by using social media, by sending out crime alerts . by email now, where in the past a crime alert might have had to been typed up and mailed out."
The crime bulletins - which sometimes pop up on the department's twitter feed - aren't the only tools used by the program. The department also conducts safety inspections at least once a year.
"We work to give them recommendations on their security. We encourage them, obviously, to watch out for each other and how to report and work better with the police so that we can have that partnership make a better effect on residential crime," she said. "Doing a little bit of preventative work always means that you reduce your chances of being victimized."
And it's certainly helped residents at Quayside Tower 1. They've been part of the Block Watch program for almost four years and are grateful for the advice they receive from the police department, Mike Hoyer said.
Hoyer is the Block Watch captain for the tower. The building has 94 units with 17 floors and most floors have a co-captain to whom Hoyer relays all crime alerts and advisories.
"I tell them 'it's your job to keep tabs on everybody and if someone is going away let us know,'" he said.
Hoyer's building has been fairly fortunate when it comes to crime, but residents did have some problems in the past with people sneaking into the building through the underground parking garage gate.
"(We now) have a sign that says 'do not leave the parking area until the gate is closed,'" he said. "It's a case of awareness."
But the program isn't always on high alert. Sometimes they even kick off their shoes and throw parties, Hoyer said.
"We get to know each other, (and) we want to get to know each other," he said.
And that's really the main goal of the Block Watch program, Cole said.
"The benefits are kind of endless in that neighbours get out and they get to know their neighbours and in turn get to know their street, their neighbourhood and they get to know what's happening," she said.
Block Watch is a provincial program that's completely free for neighbourhoods. For more information on the program or to contact Cole and her team, visit www. nwpolice.org/community-services/crime-prevention9/blockwatch.
BY CAYLEY DOBIE REPORTER [email protected]
