Neighborhood Watch Meeting, February 7, 2011

Attendees:  Glenn Osborne, Jim Brown, Helen Jeong, Yolanda Robinson, Gina  Chostner,  Denice Burkhardt and Mark Venturo. (Denise and Mark are from Brookview Terrace)

Next Meeting:  To be scheduled at a later date.

Speed on Canyon Hills Rd – Sheriff Traffic Control  will work excessive speed on Canyon Hills and vehicles running the light at Hillside/Canyon Hills.

Neighborhood Watch signs have been located and city is on board to install them. Nicole is working on placement of signs within the community. We need enough for the future planned communities.  If we have sufficient, maybe we could provide two for use at the entrances of Brookview Terrace.  

Canyon Hills Watch Report was reviewed by the committee. Only change was to suppress address info on WI5150 occurrences. The report includes law enforcement reports as well as the community security reports.  If you have other observations to report send them to nw@dduck.com

Citizens Activity Teams – Lake Elsinore Volunteer Opportunities.  City Services Support – helping the various City departments.  Event Support – working with the City and Event Sponsors.  Patrol Support – working with the Lake Elsinore Police Department, Public Safety Advisory Commission, and City Code Enforcement. Emergency Support – preparing for disasters of all kinds.  Go to the city website for more information, www.lake-elsinore.org or call Jennifer at (951) 674-3124, x231.

Citizens Corps – Preparing for a disaster takes a village. Experts say it is only a matter of time before our valley is shaken by a massive earthquake, seriously flooded or surrounded by wildfire. These events could involve all of southern California with the loss of water, electricity, gas, freeway overpasses, food deliveries, fuel deliveries, vandalism and other serious matters.  Emergency services could be severely understaffed for a regional disaster and might not be able to help us.  Because the risk of disaster is real, a permanent Citizen Corps program can improve the chances of an orderly recovery following disasters of all kinds.

Community Emergency Response Training – CERT is provided throughout the year, with the next class scheduled for March 29, 30, and 31 in Lake Elsinore. There is no cost for the class. Basic training includes the development of specialized skills in the following areas: a. Incident Command Concepts and Protocol, b. Basic Search & Rescue, c. First Aid, d. CERT, e. Radio Communications, and f. Neighborhood Watch.  Training Resources available to the Citizen Corps Council and Citizen Corps volunteers include Homeland Security, OES, Red Cross, CSTI, Neighborhood Watch and many more.

CERT applications are available at city hall. Jim Brown and Helen Jeong can be contacted for more information.

Neighborhood Watch Block Captains – we need volunteers from each neighborhood, preferably a group of 25 houses that would be available to pass along important information to their neighbors and to provide feedback of concerns back up the line. We also need a group of volunteers to help direct the activities of Neighborhood Watch.  Helen Jeong will put information in her monthly flyer. Glenn will use the email list to solicit levels of participation. Each month we can ask each member to recruit one or two additional members. 

Neighborhood Watch Activities

a.       It was suggested that we target a few areas at a time to gain participation

b.      Another suggestion was to provide some kind of training at each meeting

c.       We participate in neighborhood events together with Law Enforcement, and the Citizen Corp

d.      Work jointly with the Neighborhood Watch group in Brookview Terrace.

e.      In the future, work jointly with the Neighborhood Watch program in Tuscany Hills.

f.        Establish a liaison with the local Sheriff department and possibly use ride along for a communication channel.

g.       Work with a business group at the shopping center on both sides of Railroad Canyon to identify common issues and to provide community support to the business group.

h.      Establish a liaison with the local schools to identify common issues and to provide community support. Maybe the link would be best from our neighborhood moms thru the school PTA.  NW Patrols at the time when children come and go from school could be implemented.

i.         Establish a link to the neighborhood moms; they would be a valuable asset to neighborhood watch.

j.        Lost and found pets could be identified thru Pet Watch. Maybe we could get Mindy or Robin to help train us on this program. Also, off leash pets are a concern in some neighborhoods. The homeowners will need to report occurrences and identify the location. Animal Friends of the Valley is a resource and our Property Managers can help with persistent problems.

k.       Come up with a plan to obtain shirts for identification. Maybe a polo shirt rather than a tee shirt. Need a logo or graphic. Need a source for the shirts. Need sponsors.  Members could pay for part of the shirt.  Plan now, but wait until we get 50 members?

l.         Neighborhood Watch window decals to help identify the program within the community.  Come up with a plan to fund the decals and a source for them. Maybe this could be a joint project with neighboring communities.

m.    Develop a graphic to show where we have members. Maybe just a large cloud over the neighborhood. Each cloud could hover over 25 or 30 homes. Send any suggestions to Glenn.

n.      Request a sign to advertise the Neighborhood Watch meeting from the board.

Attachments: 

Canyon Hills Crime Report

The Five Levels of Competence

Crime Prevention Tips – Don’t Be An Easy Target