Othello Police Department starts neighborhood watch program

OTHELLO — The Othello Police Department has started a program designed to encourage neighbors to work together, look out for each other and help reduce crime.

Officer Martin Garza, who’s in charge of the neighborhood watch program, said two neighborhoods, on Larch Street and in the Coventry Lane area, are participating, and a couple more are being organized. The goal is to establish the program in a couple neighborhoods, then expand it, upon request, to other areas of town.

A neighborhood watch, or block watch, is an association of residents who communicate with each other, and with the police, when they see unusual or suspicious activity in their neighborhood.

“They’re going to be our eyes and ears,” Garza said of neighborhood watch members. “They’ll be able to tell us what’s normal and what’s not normal.”

And unusual activity doesn’t have to be criminal activity, Garza said. It’s anything that’s out of place in the neighborhood.

People who live in a neighborhood get to know the neighborhood patterns, Garza said. They know who lives there and who doesn’t, the people who walk or run through the neighborhood when they’re out for exercise, the kids who use the street on their way to and from school.

“Watching out for each other,” Garza said.

Police officers spend time in every neighborhood, Garza said, but they don’t live there. So they have no way of knowing what’s normal and what’s not. People living in the neighborhood will know if a neighbor hasn’t been seen for a couple days, even though the car is parked outside.

Garza used the example of an unfamiliar vehicle. People who live in a neighborhood will know a red truck that’s around frequently doesn’t seem to belong to anybody in the neighborhood, which is something the police wouldn’t know. That’s the kind of information block watch participants can share with each other and with the police when necessary, Garza said.

Garza said it’s important to him to encourage neighbors to get to know each other, to build relationships with each other and with the police officers who patrol the neighborhoods.

“We’re going to get the neighbors together, get to know each other,” he said.

He wants the program to make people feel more secure in their neighborhoods, he said.

“If everybody feels safe in their community, my job has been done,” Garza said.

People who want more information on the neighborhood watch program can contact Garza at mgarza@othellowa.gov, or call the police department, 509-488-3314, and leave a message.