In times past everyone in a community contributed to the
well being and safety of the community. In the last couple of decades we have slowly set aside
our need for the community and built private castles for ourselves
- if we were able. Those that could not afford the cost of a
private castle were slowly forgotten by a security industry geared
for those willing to pay the service fees.
Petty crimes like car theft and
burglary continue to plagued communities thru out America. Despite
the best efforts of law enforcement there is only so much that can
be done on limited department budgets. A while back the emergence
of "Neighborhood Watch" organizations held the promise of curbing
neighborhood crime thru the efforts of the communities own
members, but the reality was "out of site out of mind" until a
crime occurred nearby then involvement grew temporarily until
apathy again took hold.
Unfortunately Seniors are among the
most effected by the degradation of community involvement. The
traditional and highly medicinal "walk" was one of the first
casualties of a restricted lifestyle caused by medical concerns
keeping seniors at home. Another casualty is the Personal Security
of Seniors who are often the first targets of thieves. Is there an
answer? Some times going backward is required before you can go
forward, and I firmly believe that the old ways of community
security "neighbors helping neighbors" is a better way when
combined with enabling technology. Ok technology is not always the
answer, but our culture has changed away from the "community
spirit" mind set of the past. So how do we bring back the security
of the past when all efforts to date have failed?
ANSWER: A little bit of technology
combined with the "Neighborhood Watch" program will help
bring back security to our communities and give back to seniors
much of what has been lost over the last decades. To go back
requires there be a better (translated="easier") solution that
would enable an entire community to change it's habits. Here are
the steps that your community should take;
-
Establish an official
"Neighborhood Watch" program and have the city install the signs
at every entrance to your community. The is the first and
easiest step to crime deterrence.
-
Enroll in a Free Community Web
site. The site you choose must not require you be a webmaster
and must be easily configurable by any web literate person.
IMPORTANT - for this component to be successful it must
integrate with your Neighborhood Watch, so it must have a method
of real-time communications to the members of the community via
email and SMS text message. (
MySafeHome ).
-
Place low cost security
monitoring signs in front of as many homes as possible in the
community - regardless if there is a monitored system or not.
It's presence will deter crime and it will show a high degree of
protection in the community.
-
For those residents with out a
monitored security/medical alert system you should consider a
Community based system with out a monitoring fee (Most
Venerable
are: Elderly, disabled, impaired, single mothers,
etc....). For these members look at low cost systems that alert
the neighbors in a time of need. I recommend
NeighborLink products like
the NeighborLink-4 Community Security Product. You should
seriously consider the NeighborLink SmokeDetector as well
because it will alert neighbors of a fire even if the resident
is
incapacitated
or away.
a leading Community Advocate, Inventor and
Innovator.
