The message of crime prevention is spreading across the city as Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch saw a spike in its community captains membership in the past 12 months.
This is what Mike Maracle, president of the board of directors, had to share before going into the service group’s annual general meeting Tuesday night.
“It’s been successful financially with our grants and it’s been successful in that we’ve been able to get the Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch name out into the community,” he said of the past year.
The group secured about $10,000 in grants from Red Deer and District Community Foundation and Alberta Culture and Community Spirit. It used the money to launch its Just Say Hi campaign in June.
Two ambassadors were hired over the summer to promote the project that encouraged residents to talk to and get to know their neighbours.
Maracle said the campaign, which wrapped up in August, resulted in a 20 per cent increase in block captains — residents who distribute crime prevention information to each home in his or her area.
Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch has about 400 block captains. The city is divided into 1,600 blocks.
“So we have a long way to go and that’s what Just Say Hi is about,” Maracle said.
“It’s to encourage people to become block captains, to disperse this information that we are able to get from different programs in the city.”
While Maracle wants to run the Just Say Hi campaign again, the service group is focusing on an initiative to reach out to cultural groups.
He said Neighbourhood Watch is working with community groups to provide residents of different ethnicities explanations on ways to avoid crime. The program will be fully launched by the spring.
Neighbourhood Watch is working on grant applications to raise funds to explain issues such as fraud to minority groups in their own language.
Maracle also hopes that this latest program will inspire others to step up as block captains.
Contact Neighbourhood Watch at 403-343-6181.
ptrotter@www.reddeeradvocate.com