For whatever reason, the Akron Police Department doesn't have much useful information available about their Community Policing Section on their web site. See http://ci.akron.oh.us/Police/communitypolicing.html  Their telephone number isn't even listed.

Starting a Block Watch group in your neighborhood is simple! Call the Akron Police Department Community Policing Section at 330-375-2568. They will send a COPS officer to meet with you and your neighbors and help get your Block Watch Group started.

Contact your City Council member! Ask for their help and invite them to your meetings.

Community Policing officers will give advise and respond to any concerns you have about problems in your neighborhood and the best way to fix the problems in your area. Before the first meeting, ask the officer to bring a list of recent crimes in your neighborhood. Also, ask neighbors to make a list of neighborhood problems, complaints and any other concerns they have and give it to the Community Policing officer at the meeting.

The sooner your Neighborhood Watch groups gets started, the sooner you and your neighbors can start cleaning up your neighborhood.

One of the best places to hold your Block Watch meetings are at one of the Community Centers in Akron.

Keeping your neighbors actively involved is difficult. Once you start having problems in your area, most everyone becomes involved and with the help of the Police Department, most if not all of the problems get taken care. Unfortunately, most people loose interest when your neighborhood starts to return to normal. DON'T GET COMPLACENT! Keep as many members as active as possible. Criminals will be the first to notice that your Block Watch group isn't as active as it once was.

We found that enlisting the help of one or more neighbors that works nights to be most helpful. When the rest of us are sleeping, those who work 4 to midnight usually stay up for a few hours. They can keep an eye on the neighborhood while others are sleeping. The same is true for those who work midnight shift. They can watch the neighborhood when others are at work.

Some neighbors will refuse to get involved even if they have been victims of a crime. Maybe they are afraid of retaliation against them, their family or property. This is understandable but much can be done without having to put yourself or anyone else in dangerous situations. When you see something that doesn't look right in your neighborhood, CALL THE POLICE. You DO NOT have to give your name and address. If the same problem keeps happening, ask several of your neighbors to also call police. If they get several complaints about a problem, they will give that area some extra attention. If problems persist, contact your City Council member and the Mayor's office. THEY WORK FOR US!

We have to weigh all the options - either we take a stand against crime or worry about how much worse the problems in your area can get if nothing is done.  Each one of us must make the decision.

It is possible to have a secret block watch group. If you call police, you DO NOT have to give your name. If you have a drug house in your area, peek out of the window with binoculars and write down the license plates the are frequently there and give these to your community policing officer.

The areas that have a successful Neighborhood Watch group have made the decision that the problems are much worse than the possibility of retaliation and have contacted the Akron Police Department for help. Until you get a Neighborhood Watch Program started in your area, click here for some Crime Prevention Tips.

Since personal computers are becoming more prevalent, there are several ways to let the Police Department and other city officials know about the problems in your neighborhood. One way is to use the Police Department's Anonymous Tip web page at http://ci.akron.oh.us/asp/tip.html  Another one is the Mayor's Action Center at http://ci.akron.oh.us/asp/mac.html  Last but not least, is to e-mail the Police Department or other city officials. At your first meeting, get the Community Policing Officer's e-mail address.

Almost everyone that works for the City of Akron - even the Mayor - has an e-mail address. See http://ci.akron.oh.us/e-mail.html for a list of the more common ones. This list also has the e-mail addresses of all City Council members.