WHAT IS CRIME WATCH? Crime Watch is a crime prevention program instituted in Pembroke Pines to attempt to reduce crime in our city by citizen and merchant involvement. The goal of Crime Watch is to prevent and deter crime in Pembroke Pines. We want our growing population to enjoy a safe and secure community. We hope to establish an efficient Crime Watch program throughout the city that will offer many rewards for everyone. These include instilling a greater sense of security and well-being, reducing the fear of crime, and creating a closer and friendlier community. Crime Watch also works to bring law enforcement and our community together as a team to reduce crime in all areas. It is impractical to place a policeman in each neighborhood and business location. The practical solution is to utilize those who live and work in our city. Residents in their neighborhoods and merchants around their businesses know who belongs there and who doesn’t. They know what activities in their areas look suspicious. They know what to report to our police. Remember Crime Watch is not a vigilante group working outside the normal procedures of law enforcement. We do not encourage members to take personal risks to prevent a crime. Our weapon is the telephone! Become your community’s eyes and ears! We cannot guarantee that your neighborhood or business area will become 100% crime free. But crime can be reduced with your help. The reason that the Crime Watch program works, is that everyone is working with, instead of relying on, the Pembroke Pines Police Department to combat crimes in our community. You literally become the "eyes and ears" of the police by reporting suspicious activity immediately to them. They know that they cannot be everywhere at the same time. The police realize that they need their community to assist them in their efforts to protect and serve. Crime Watch has opened new channels of communication between the police and the residents and merchants of our city. Does Crime Watch really work? Crime Watch will work only if we, the citizens and merchants, make it work. There are three things that we need to make our goal a reality; they are the interest, support, and active participation of our community in the Crime Watch program. One of the crucial functions of law enforcement involves keeping the people informed as to what is happening in our community so that they may feel more secure. At the same time we, the people, have to band together and work with the police to deter crime. Will the police work with Crime Watch? Yes! The Pembroke Pines Police Department fully supports the Crime Watch program in our city. In fact at almost every meeting that Crime Watch hosts, the police department sends a police officer from the Community Affairs Unit. Often a detective from the unit that specializes in burglary, auto theft, street crime, etc. will attend and address the specific concerns of the neighborhood or business. Our Pembroke Pines Police Department believes in community policing. For decades the residents and merchants relied on the criminal justice system to keep them safe from crime. The police would arrest the criminal, and the courts would prosecute. But our city is growing too fast which prohibits our police from being everywhere at once. Our police recognize the role that the community can play in law enforcement and keeping our city safe. They need our help as much as we need theirs. How do you join Crime Watch? Call the Crime Watch office to schedule a meeting in your neighborhood or at your business. We will bring handouts and applications. There is a nominal fee to join: Residential per home is $5 / year or $10 / 3 years per unit or if the entire Homeowners Association (HOA) or Condo Association joins as an entity, it is $3 / 1st year and renewals $2 / year per unit. For merchants the fee is $15 / year or $25 / 2 years. As the word gets around more people will join. The larger the number of members, the more powerful your group. Become a block captain or coordinator in your neighborhood or business area. Crime Watch needs you...and your community needs an active Crime Watch program.