Mesa Springs holds off on Neighborhood Watch

       Mesa Springs residents heard a Neighborhood Watch presentation at their association meeting Jan. 10, but took no action to start such a crime-prevention effort at this time.
       Jim Barrentine of the Colorado Springs Police told roughly 20 people in the Pike Elementary library what's required to form a Neighborhood Watch and how it can lessen criminal activity in an area by making residents “the eyes and ears for the Police Department.”
       At the end of the talk, Mesa Springs Community Association President George Gravenstein asked the group if they wanted to move forward on a Watch program, but no one stepped forward.
       He said afterward some members had expressed interest in a Neighborhood Watch last year because of threatening activities by certain individuals in the neighborhood. However, those individuals have apparently moved away.
       Some possible crime-related situations still exist in Mesa Springs, based on comments during the meeting. Carol Gravenstein said she has observed a low-income-appearing house at which drivers in expensive cars frequently pull up, stay only briefly, then leave. Barrentine agreed that sounded suspicious, joking that even when he visits his mother-in-law “I stay more than 10 minutes.”
       The hard part for a successful Neighborhood Watch is having active block captains, Barrentine explained. They are required to meet with police and neighbors and to be a point of contact for the program in that area.
       Neighborhood Watch programs have existed in at least two parts of Mesa Springs, according to comments at the meeting.
       One of the great myths of the program, Barrentine noted, is that criminals will shy away from an area once the city puts up Neighborhood Watch signs. Instead, such signs have been known to be stolen - a resident at the meeting attested to that happening in her area - or painted over, Barrentine said.
       He himself has recently removed old, beat-up Neighborhood Watch signs around town, in areas that are no longer active. He said this sends a message - criminals included - that if an area has signs up, it is a strong Watch area.
       Barrentine described such an area as one where people know their neighborhood, can tell when things are amiss and have good relations with their neighbors. For instance, Barrentine recommended that people not stop their mail or newspaper delivery when they leave for a while, because such information might get in the wrong hands; instead, they should get with a neighbor to pick up their papers and mail and hold them.
       As an opposite example, Barrentine told of a case in recent years where bold robbers actually got a resident to help load stolen items from a neighbor's house into the trunk of their car.
       Barrentine said he would work with the association should it decide to move forward with a Neighborhood Watch program.
       Mesa Springs is the mostly residential area bordered by Uintah Street on the south, I-25 on the east, Fillmore Street on the north and Sondermann Park and undeveloped space to the west. The association has other meetings scheduled this year with speakers in March, May and October.

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