Operation Neighborhood Watch is a program established by the Boca Raton Police Department in Florida on May 1st 2012. Perhaps of particular interest is the fact that the creators of the organization opted to encourage greater community involvement in security matters, especially when it came to the observation and reporting of criminal activities. In addition to encouraging a change in attitude amongst members of the police department, the department through the organization, also began utilizing the neighborhood alert email system as well as social media and the website a bit more. The program essentially encompasses collaboration between the police department and the community, within which the department has also posted a number of police officers under cover. The organization takes advantage of alert and involved members of the community who take it upon themselves to inform the police of any suspicious activity. The department, through the program, shifted police officers into undercover assignments within the community, engaged in neighborhood education, targeted marked patrols as well as more intelligence briefings. Overall, Operation Neighborhood Watch encompasses partnership efforts by the community as well as the police department, aimed at ensuring a proactive approach towards crime prevention. It provides an umbrella organization within which volunteer residents can actually share information with the authorities regarding suspicious activities observed (Thompson, 2005).
The organization is therefore involved in maintaining peace, as well as ensuring security within the community. The formation of the organization was motivated by a need to deal with a rising state of crime within the Boca Raton neighborhood, specifically rising cases of burglaries, both automobile as well as residential. Further, the fact that surveys mostly highlight that while a number of individuals usually report having noticed suspicious activity prior to any criminal acts observed, a significant majority failed to call the police in most of such cases. The organization, therefore, in addition to being proactive towards curbing crime, also attempts to encourage community members to promptly report any suspicious activities they may observe. In terms of responsibility, one could argue that by extension, it is indeed the responsibility of Operation Neighborhood Watch to be involved in security matters within the community, as it is basically an extension of the Boca Raton Police Department. However, the degree of involvement is above average, mainly due to the fact that it has enlisted the help of the community, as well as posted a number of officers undercover. These two actions signify a deep level of involvement, as it requires greater sacrifice both on the part of the community, as well as on the part of the police department. Through undercover assignments, targeted patrols, intelligence briefings and other measures, the police officers engaged in the program are deeply involved. On the part of the neighborhood, participation in education programs driven by the program denotes a significant improvement on the level of involvement by residents of Boca Raton. Particularly, the increased involvement by the residents, according to Mark Economou a spokesperson for the Police Department, resulted in increased arrests for not just burglaries, but also prowling and loitering (Leming, 2012). These results are proof of the increased involvement and vigilance on the part of the residents.
It is clear that a number of factors have served to influence the social responsibility strategies of the organization. At the fore of such factors, is the increase in criminal activities observed in Boca Raton, especially during the first half of the year 2012. According to statistics provided by the police department, the number of loiters and prowlers arrested in the first half of 2012 matched that recorded in the whole of 2011. Furthermore, a 44% increase in the number of burglaries observed in the same period in 2011, also contributed significantly to the decisions on strategies to be adopted by the organization. In addition, the results from numerous surveys indicating that most residents were afraid to contact the police department also influenced the social responsibility strategies adopted by the organization. The organization, through these surveys has not only realized the potential utility of engaging the alert and involved residents, but also of educating them on how they can assist the police department, a factor that has also greatly affected the social responsibility strategies Operation Neighborhood Watch adopts (Boca Raton Police Services Department, 2012).
The social initiative of the organization is to proactively, through constructive collaboration, curb crime within the neighborhood, especially automobile and residential burglary, as well as prowling and loitering. The social initiative itself it can be argued is actually the very essence of the program, because the need to reduce crime is what drives the program. Potentially, the social initiative could lead to a situation in which all residents within Boca Raton feel morally obligated to participate in the program. Through education, the program may affect the sense of morality amongst the residents and lead to the establishment of a new set of moral imperatives, one of which would be the responsibility to report any suspicious activities observed (McDowell & McFetridge, 1978).
References
Boca Raton Police Services Department (2012). Operation Neighborhood Watch nets over a dozen arrests. Retrieved from
Leming, M. (2012, July 4). Boca Raton: Residents’ alerts help police slow crime numbers. Retrieved from
McDowell, J., & McFetridge, D. (1978). Are Moral Requirements Hypothetical Imperatives?. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, 52, 13-42.
Thompson, P. (2005). Seeking Effective Power: Why Mayors Need Community Organizations. Perspectives on Politics, 3, 301–308.
