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Hernando Today

Crime Watch Groups Celebrate National Night Out

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: August 7, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Think of it as a re-invention of the village.

Neighbors greet each other by name. Unfamiliar cars are recognized, scrutinized. And once a month everyone pitches in to clean up the streets.

As foreign as this sounds in our secular society, there are at least 70 communities in Hernando County that have made it a reality. On Tuesday, they were among the neighborhood crime watches around the country to celebrate National Night Out.

Their number includes the 60 houses or so clustered around Winter Street in a neighborhood called Potterfield Garden Acres. Their crime watch group, which includes the smaller subdivision of Lindsey Acres, was started last September by residents Linda Schrader and Sally Melanson.

"It's a really nice community tool," Schrader said Tuesday evening as she greeted neighbors walking up to her house on Cresap Street.

Some of the larger crime watches like the one in Brookridge were planning parades or barbecues. The Potterfield group planned for ice cream sundaes in Schrader's house.

As a small group formed on her driveway, chatting about this and that, fat rain drops began to plop down through the pine trees. The party broke up and hurried for cover inside Schrader's living room.

The red-carpeted great room was the setting for the first crime watch meeting last year. The group quickly expanded over subsequent meetings from 13, to 23, to its current roster of 27 members.

Jim Lackey moved to the neighborhood and joined the crime watch just days after the first meeting. He was partly inspired after witnessing someone trying to steal items off his neighbor's boat.

When there's a crime watch in place, thieves are a "little bit leery about dropping in and trying to steal stuff," he said.

Using phone calls and e-mails, members of the watch group are alerted whenever someone leaves on vacation. They are relayed pertinent information such as who is coming to water the plants and the type of car they drive and who to contact if the water main breaks.

The crime watch group has also come in handy when a child or dog has gone missing. In one instance, watchful neighbors looking for a lost pooch actually found three other missing dogs before finding the stray.

It boils down to the little things, too. When Schrader's husband recently broke his ankle, the crime watch group helped out with meals for the family.

At the root of all the community efforts are the new relationships developed between neighbors.

"Everybody gets along," said Melanson.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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