Niu Valley Community Association

Neighborhood Citizen Patrol Information

Nov 13, 2003

A group of approximately 35 residents met on 10/28/03 at 7 p.m. in the Niu Valley Intermediate School's library to learn how to organize community patrols and report suspicious activities to the police. Officer Thomas Darling, who has been in the Police Department for four years, gave a presentation on HPD's Resident Patrol Training, which has proven to work in other areas. There are 16 citizen's patrols in District 7. Twelve patrols are mobile patrols covering the East Honolulu area and four are walking patrols. The walking patrols are in Kaimuki and McCully/Moiliili areas. It was explained that because of the efforts of the walking citizen's patrol in Kaimuki, burglaries for kaimuki Middle School went down from one a day to one burglary a month. As a direct result of their efforts, an officer was freed up to respond to other concerns in their community like speeding. Two aspects to being on a citizen's patrol are:
1. Not to be confrontational, but to provide a visible presence on the streets.
2. Report suspicious activities by becoming additional eyes and ears for the police officers. (Citizen's patrols are discouraged from intervening unless it is an emergency.)

Citizen's patrols show that crime will not be tolerated in our neighborhood. Just like when cockroaches run when the lights are turned on, criminals run when neighbors band together proving we will not tolerate criminal activities in our community. Citizen's patrols provide us the opportunity to get to know our neighbors and problems in the community, as well as being good exercise. The three basic elements of a crime are:
1. Desire of the criminal
2. Ability to commit the act
3. Opportunity to do so
In order to prevent crime, we need to work with the police. The challenges for us is to remove just one element (by locking our doors, removing keys from vehicles, having citizen's patrols). It works like a tripod - it cannot stand with one leg gone. If we work together, we can improve the quality of life in our community.

The team captain needs to make sure:
* Cell phone is on and charged
* Record the team members
* Brief the patrol on any police or activity notes
* Note the area patrolled and focus (graffiti, abandoned vehicles, etc.)
* Fill out the activity report and keep a copy
Members should:
* Wear identifiable clothing
* Meet at a designated time and day
* Enter their name into the patrol log
* Remain together - safety is the main concern for members
* Walk at a lesiurely pace in order to be seen
* Be courteous and acknowledge residents
* Avoid direct confrontation, but report any distrubance/suspicious activity to the police
* After completion, members should walk back to their designated area.

The police recommend six members for every citizen's patrol, and not less than four people because there is strength in numbers. It's very important to give concise information to 911 which will be relayed to the responding police officers. Members should not discuss what they saw, but write down as much information as they can remember. (Sometimes talking about it will change the memories of other members.) The police will need the suspect's sex, age, race, height and weight. Also, what color and length hair, complexion, facial hair, glasses, clothing, footwear, tattoos, scars, accent, limp is helpful. Each citizen's patrol member must go through the sign up presentation prior to going on patrol. The police will help us with statisitcs, burglary prevention classes, and even walking with the patrols if time permits. We set the times and places to patrol. Citizen's patrols can work to make a difference and reduce crime - it just depends on how much work we do. Crime is not a police problem, it's a community problem. If we don't care about our community, who will?