Block Watch is a crime prevention program that draws on members of the community for help in preventing and reducing neighbourhood crime. Block Watch is a partnership between the police and the citizens who work together to prevent crime in their community. It is a neighbour-helping-neighbour program that teaches citizens to secure their property, to be aware of their surroundings and to report any suspicious activities to police. Participants in the program form a communication chain aided by a block map of names, numbers, and addresses. They are essentially the "eyes and ears" for the police reducing the opportunities for crime and therefore decreasing the likelihood that a crime will occur. Originally started in Seattle in 1973, Block Watch has since expanded across North America to become one of the largest community crime prevention programs.

View the latest Block Watch Update or view the latest Block Watch Fanout Report.

View the latest Police Report.

What Block Watch Is:
Block Watch is really just an extension of what you are probably already doing on an informal basis. We tend to know and watch out for our closet neighbours, but a group of neighbours at one end of the block, who are doing this, may not know the group of neighbours at the other end of the block.

Organizing a Block Watch makes this attitude of watchfulness more systematic, and provides a block map with neighbours' names and telephone numbers that can be used in the case of an emergency.

Block Watch involves two commitments:

1. A commitment to be concerned about your neighbour's property as well as your own.
2. A commitment that when you see suspicious activity, you will take action by calling your neighbour or the West Vancouver Police at (604) 925-7300. If you observe a crime occurring call 9-1-1. It's as simple as that, but it's very effective.

What Block Watch Isn't:

1. Block Watch doesn't require you to perform any special tasks, go to a lot of meetings, or take on extra responsibilities. You don't have to patrol the neighbourhood, or chase burglars. BLOCK WATCH just involves being alert as a part of your everyday life. For example, when you go to the window to open or close the drapes, instead of just opening or closing them and turning away, you might stop for a second and glance around the neighbourhood to be sure everything is okay. When you go out to get in the car to go to work, instead of heading for the car with "tunnel vision", glance up and check the neighbourhood. It is this kind of "watching" that is involved.
2. Being a part of BLOCK WATCH doesn't require you to live in your neighbour's hip pocket, or tell them every aspect of your business. You can still conduct your life in privacy. All it requires is that you and your neighbours be familiar enough with each other to know who belongs in the neighbourhood and who doesn't, which cars are a part of the neighbourhood and which are not, and when something suspicious is going on. It doesn't require you to be any friendlier than you want to be.
3. BLOCK WATCH isn't just for homeowners. One aspect of the program - upgrading home security- can be implemented even if you do not own a home. Contact your landlord regarding the installation of any new security, to obtain their cooperation. The other two aspects - engraving an identification number on your property, and the BLOCK WATCH concept of "neighbour watching out for neighbour" are just as important for renters as for homeowners.

If you would like to book an appointment with your block call Corporal Fred Harding at 604.925.7353.