How to Start a Rosemont Neighborhood Watch Group

Editor's note: The author is a member of the Rosemont Community Association.

What is the best crime prevention tool ever invented? A good neighbor.

Starting a Neighborhood Watch group in your part of Rosemont is really easy to do. You just need to know what the steps are.

The basic steps to starting a NW group are:

1) Contact Crime Prevention Officer Heidi Herrera at 875-5852 to express interest in attending a one-time orientation meeting. Meetings are held at the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, East Station (2897 Kilgore Road, Rancho Cordova) on the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is Tuesday, September 11 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the topic of Crime Trends/Gangs, followed by the orientation meeting from 7:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

2) Next, inform your neighbors and invite them to an initial meeting. If you would like a Rosemont community volunteer to attend your first meeting and provide information specific to Rosemont, please contact Linda at info@rosemontca.org. You may be surprised by the response you get. Many people would like to belong to an active NW group, but simply don’t know how to go about it. It simply takes one person to make it happen.

3) After your initial meeting, determine which of your neighbors are interested in joining the group and prepare a NW group roster. The roster is essential to the success of your NW group. It will contain names, addresses and contact information to enable neighbors to communicate with one another. Once you provide a copy of your roster to the SSD Crime Prevention Officer, you are an “official” NW group.

4) Don't feel overwhelmed by the process. Once a NW group is established, the time invested by the NW coordinator can be as much or as little as you want it to be. The important thing is that you get one started!

Do you have a Neighborhood Watch group in your corner of Rosemont? What has it done for your neighborhood? Tell us in the comments.