NCJ Number
95986
Date Published
1978
Length
52 pages
Annotation
The crime prevention activities of the Mount Lebanon Police Department (Pennsylvania) are described and illustrated.
Abstract
The Neighborhood Watch program involves 29 groups. Groups maintain contact throughout the year, and the Surveyor 7 Communications System permits response when relevant problems arise. Annual meetings provide members with information on such subjects as substance abuse, auto theft, senior citizens and fraud, and sexual assault. The Surveyor 7 permits rapid and accurate dissemination of information through a structured communication network. Sensitivity training has been used to improve communications between the police and watch group participants, and a special crime prevention program has been implemented for the blind and physically handicapped. In additional, security checks have been undertaken for residences and businesses. To improve police-juvenile communciations, Steelers baseball cards with crime prevention tips on the back are being issued only by police officers. A special realtors watch group also was formed. Businessmen, too, were given special training in crime prevention strategies, and a crime prevention officers' exchange program was begun. An additional program provides residents with information about rape and its sequelae as well as possible active and passive responses to rape. Mock armed robberies have been used to train police and bank personnel. Additional programs are designed to increase residents' awareness of the possible dangers of allowing strangers into their home, of targets and types of fraud, and drug and alcohol abuse. A special crime prevention and education program was developed for use in grades K through 12, and pharmacists have been trained to identify fraudulent drug prescriptions. Parlor meetings are organized by streets within watch groups and serve to increase police and community contact.