Persuasive speech (Neighborhood Watches)

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I'm doing a persuasive speech/call to action speech on Neighborhood Watches/Community Watches. I'm supposed to have 5 sources (1 website, 1 interview, 1 book excerpt, 1 magazine article and 1 newspaper article) for my 6-8 minute speech.

I need some help on getting sources for the speech. It's hard to come up with something, because a neighborhood watch seems positive, and not very "debatable". Every search on google has no definite answers, and I'm not very far away from going to my local agency for interviews.

Thanks for any help!

[oscarmitre]

If you're tasked with writing a speech which supports the concept then I would think that you might get some resources at

http://www.ncjrs.org/

If you need to critically appraise the concept then I would suggest you have a look at some academic sites try this one

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/comlist.htm

Good luck

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Thank you. I'm for the concept of Neighborhood Watch programs, but I guess I'll have to work with what I have or else I fail the course.

I forgot to add - if anyone else has any opinions on neighborhood watches, I will accept that, too.

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My teacher just let me know that she will accept online interviews for a source.

If any of you are willing to answer a few questions regarding neighborhood watches and how it effects LE, please PM me. (Verified LE only please!)

[121Traffic]

Hey, just a suggestion...

Have you called your local agency yet? Many departments, while proclaiming to be "Community Oriented", still have a totally exclusive "Community Oriented Policing" officer. The officer's main job is to set up meetings with community members, act as a liason, things of that sort. The ones around here are actively involved in meeting with local Neighborhood Watch people and block Captains, and Operation Identification people. See if you can schedule an interview with the officer, if the position exists, and maybe try to get to a Neighborhood Watch meeting where the local PD will have officers present...they may even have a presentation to the citizens, which is also fairly common around here. Hope that helps.

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Thank you for your suggestion. It is hard to find time to do this, however. I work a full-time job and go to school and this speech is a major part of my grade to decide if I graduate or not.

My main three subjects I will present in 6-8 minutes are:

1. Police Presence
2. Morale
3. Economical Benefits

(Basically, I came up with some reasons (or generalizations) as to why people should join neighborhood watches.)

1. I'm trying to figure out if the idea that police are able to respond to more calls if neighborhoods are on watches, to save time and increases police presence...Nothing to back this up, though.

2. My theory is that when neighborhoods'/community morale is high, so is the local agency. I need info to back this up, though!

3. Also, I thought about how the economy could benefit from neighborhood watches (maybe not on a national scale, but still)...Yet again, no proof to back this up.

Would there be better reasons to join neighborhood watches?

[121Traffic]

Not an LEO yet, but I think I can speak about it briefly here...

1. This is a BIG part of NW/Community Policing. Getting the community to accept a peer partnership that this is their neighborhood, and a lot of responsibility to keep it safe rests on their shoulders. Word gets around when a community is tight-knit enough that they take proactive steps in protecting their streets. Mowing eachothers lawns when the homeowner is out of town, getting eachothers mail as well, knowing what vehicles are "regulars" etc, being alert to strange noises at night, barking of dogs, etc. This can increase police patrols in other areas, I guess, but that isn't the primary goal. The goal is to establish a good working relationship with the community, have them be your eyes and ears, and getting rid of the all-too-prevalent "Us vs. Them" attitude.

2. This question ties in a lot with #1. I think it is a cycle...people start respecting LE a little more, subsequent contacts that might have otherwise been unpleasant (traffic stops, etc) have an underlying realization that the cops are just doing their jobs and are in fact serving the public by for example getting you to slow down, LE in general is more pleased with the way the citizens treat them and because of that, just displays more of a "partnership" attitude with each passing day.

3. Right off the top of my head, I can think of one economic benefit. Lower crime, more pride in the neighborhood = better-looking neighborhood = higher property value = more revenue through retail = etc. (Sub)Urban revitalization at it's finest!

[Seand442]

Probably the most critical ingredient to Community policing is community involvement. The citizens must be willing to report crime and aid in the investigation and prosecution. Some thoughts for your ideas.

1. Neighborhood watch is an idea where people keep their eyes and ears open and watch what is going on in their neighborhood. It is seeing the strange van parked outside of a house for 3 hours when nobody is supposed to be there. It is writing down the license plate and description of people with that vehicle. It is then calling the police and giving that info to them. Part of the problem with this is that a whole lot of people do not know squat about their neighbors and could care less about what goes on. Police presence can only be improved by hiring more officers and that is a tough task in itself.

2. Not entirely sure how you would judge community morale but dept morale might mimic it at times but just because things are going good in the community will not mean things are peachy with the pd.

3. Crime causes lower property values, higher insurance, overall doesn't make people want to live there. Stores will everntually close up and leave, people will board up and leave and the community takes a dive. By helping prevent crime, you are giving the police a great number of extra eyes and ears that know the neighborhood even better than the officer does.

This community oriented policing is a good idea in theory however the citizens need to be active and responsible and use some common sense for it to actually work.

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I do appreciate the information.

I would really like to back up this information with articles from somewhere, and I've looked and looked - but I can't find anything. The problem with finding that kind of info is that it seems like common knowledge that the crime rate is lower, property value goes up, and so forth...

[oscarmitre]

Try here as well http://policeforum.mn-8.net/

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Thanks, oscarmitre! I am looking that up.

Tried getting a hold of local LE, but they have no information, and their staff was unavailable at the time. The Major that I wanted to interview is out on the gun range for a week...By the time he gets back my speech will be due.

I'm totally surprised about this. I guess I could just fabricate some names for the interview source? Hehe.

Nevertheless...Questions for you all:

1. How do you feel about neighborhood watches/communities being close to the police agencies akin to the calls you get? Does it cut the time in half? Do you think a neighborhood watch helps when the neighborhood will take care of the "minor" issues (such as neighbors arguing with each other)?

2. Also, in what ways do neighborhood watches benefit and hinder the community policing process?

3. What do you think of the future of neighborhood watches?

Thank you.

[Seand442]

Here are some answers, my opinion at least

1. the reason people call the cops is because they are in a situation they need help in getting out of. A neighborhood watch program doesn't cut response time at all. In fact, it would probably increase call volume if citizens are reporting suspicious behavior and such. Unfortunately, "minor" issues tend to be the types of calls that can escalate into much more serious things. IMHO, I wouldn't want just anyone trying to mediate a dispute between neighbors, husband/wife, etc.

2. Benefits include more involved neighbors, learn about the neighborhood(ie. who should be there and who should not), make friends, better relationship with le. Downsides only exist if no participation. If the people don't want to help, there is no point in trying to keep it going. It is a program that the citizens must work at in order to get any benefits from.

3. I would imagine most depts will continue to promote them and work with them as long as the neighborhoods show interest. I don't want to sound like a broken record but the main factor is participation and a whole lot of people don't want to get involved for various reasons. If the citizens won't work, the program won't work either.

[oscarmitre]

1. How do you feel about neighborhood watches/communities being close to the police agencies akin to the calls you get? Does it cut the time in half? Do you think a neighborhood watch helps when the neighborhood will take care of the "minor" issues (such as neighbors arguing with each other)?

Can only speak on the experience in South Australia but hopefully the comparative approach may help.

Neighbourhood Watch and other Watches in South Australia are independent of the South Australia Police but each Area is assigned a police officer as coordinator. Police in the area operate without direct reference to Neighbourhood Watch (or School Watch or Business Watch or Rural Watch) but will exchange intelligence/information with the local Watch.
Neighbourhood Watch has a direct benefit in that it does develop a lot more interested and aware citizens.

2. Also, in what ways do neighborhood watches benefit and hinder the community policing process?

Excellent method of getting to know various key individuals and organisations in the area. Builds up trust between local police and members of the various Watches and helps to break down the "us v them" mentality that can develop.

3. What do you think of the future of neighborhood watches?

For a while here in South Australia they went into a crisis due to lack of members and I have to say lack of support from the police. But in the last couple of years they have been re-organised and a lot more resources have been given to them. They have developed various Watches aside from Neighbourhood Watch (see above) and the specialised approach as well as the general Neighbourhood Watch approach seems to be creating more interest and therefore generating more members. I think they are critical to policing and criminal justice here in South Australia. One of the reasons is that we - in common with the rest of Australia - not have local police. A community is not policed by its own police dept, it gets the South Australia Police. This can sometimes, especially in isolated rural areas, lead to the police being seen as a sort of gendarmerie rather than a police force sensitive to local conditions and needs. Neighbourhood Watch has the ability to create a channel of communication between the local community and the senior officer in charge of the South Australia Police contingent in the area, thus giving locals some influence in policing in the area.

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Thanks for your time! I know I can put this in my speech somewhere.