Neighborhood Watch Fort Lauderdale?

     Does Fort Lauderdale have Neighborhood Watch programs? We certainly have lots of crime in some neighborhoods, but could we have a shooting death like what happened in Sanford if citizens are out there patrolling?

                       Here’s the deal ……

     The City’s Police Department has a program called Citizen’s on Patrol.

            

      These are the active citizens in the program ( that’s wife Cindy bottom row, second from right). They are well trained, drive around in City issued old police cars, dress in official looking uniforms,  and are instructed how to call in problems to Police Dispatch. They take additional training to help in accident traffic control.

     They use Police Radios, have to file a report after each outing, and can’t patrol alone. And they absolutely can’t carry any weapons!

     There is no other official citizen patrolling going on that I know of, but one neighborhood is in the process of forming there own Neighborhood Watch Program.

                       

     LakeRidge President Shannon Harmeling (right), and  board member Juliette Rocque have been working with Police Chief Adderley on their new Neighborhood Watch program.

                                     

     They say the LakeRidge Neighborhood Watch program will have strict rules.

     1.) The participants will have to be approved by the neighborhood Public Safety Committee  and the neighborhood’s Board of Directors.
  
     
2.) They will also have to attend an orientation conducted by LakeRidge and  the FLPD.

      3.) They must do a “ride-along” with a Policeman during the “evening shift”.

      4.) They must attend the Citys’ CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team) training within a month of being a neighborhood watchman.

               Should the city sanction, or encourage more watch programs like LakeRidges ?

    

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