How to Form a Neighborhood Watch (ACONA)

Tuesday night’s Altadena Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (ACONA) meeting included discussion on two topics that previous attendees voted for on an online survey put together by ACONA’s co-founder, Elliot Gold. The goal of ACONA, Gold said at the beginning of the meeting, is to “make Altadena the best neighborhood in LA County.”

The first, which you can , was an update on Altadena’s new uniform trash collection service by officials and representatives from LA County and Athens Services since that company began trash and recycling pickup Sept. 5.

The second had officials from the Altadena Sheriff’s station and a co-founder of a Neighborhood Watch in east Altadena speaking about how residents can start their own Watch or Neighborhood Association, and why it’s beneficial to do so.

The next ACONA meeting will be held in January. Gold suggested one of the possible topics to address could be better cell phone service in Altadena. A survey was emailed to attendees after the meeting. Take the survey here to provide your input on future topics.

Forming a new Neighborhood Watch

Altadena resident Jeff Sedlik, a co-founder of the Neighborhood Watch for residents of the area surrounding Braeburn Road, gave a presentation on building a successful Watch. He acknowledged that it’s not an easy task because of the participation factor, but added that it’s a beneficial thing to be a part of. To find out if your neighborhood already has a watch, go to altadenalert.org to see a map of all the Altadena Neighborhood Watches.

The first step to creating a new watch is to form a founding committee of dedicated local residents and have them meet with Sgt. Michael Randenberg and Deputy Ronnie Manier of Altadena Sheriff’s Community Relations to discuss how to proceed. This can help to define the boundaries of the watch.

“Then you should create a free online discussion group focused on neighborhood security,” said Sedlik. “Create a blog and include community resources and safety information. It’s important to establish guidelines for discussions. This is not a free speech type of situation.”

The next steps include recruiting participants, connecting with other Altadena Neighborhood Watches to share information and notifications, and recruiting sponsors for neighbors lacking a computer or the Internet.

“Don’t leave people stranded just because they don’t have a computer,” said Sedlik. “Another key step is adding an emergency contact list to your blog or website. We had one person who tried to get into our Braeburn Watch and gave us a fake address, so we check names and addresses to the tax record. For renters we call their landlords to verify.”

He ended his presentation by saying that these steps are just to get a new watch started, and that a lot more goes on in order to maintain a successful Neighborhood Watch.

Natalie Salazar, Director of the Community Law Enforcement Partnership Program (CLEPP) for the Sheriff's Department who lives in Altadena, talked about the benefits of getting involved in a Neighborhood Watch or Neighborhood Association.

“Some people don’t want to get to know others, but you need to get to know your neighbors,” said Salazar. “My skills may be very different than my neighbors. The goal is to form a stronger association by combining all our skills.”

She also talked about the need to reach out to those without computers, and had several bulletin boards with tips on starting a Neighborhood Watch and making your home a safer place, as well as emergency contacts and county resources.

Sgt. Michael Randenberg of the Altadena Sheriff’s station talked about his background in burglary investigations, where he learned how burglars operate.

“What I do is identify weak areas in the home that allows burglars to get inside in the first place,” he said. He offered tips to help prevention, such as external lighting. “That only helps if you’re going to get up and check out the situation when, say, a motion light goes off. Otherwise you’re just lighting up your vehicle or yard to allow burglars to see what they’re doing. Lighting and alarms can be a deterrent, but the fact is if someone wants to break into your home, they’re going to get in.”

That’s one of the many reasons to be part of a watch. Randenberg also said it’s important to get detailed descriptions of suspicious persons when reporting incidents to the Sheriff’s station.

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