Greenwood police encouraging neighborhoods to create watch groups
GREENWOOD, Ind (WISH) — Greenwood police are encouraging people to come together to form neighborhood watch groups. It’s not a new plea, but it’s one that’s helping with their staffing issues and crack crimes.
There’s an ongoing staffing issue at the department. Police say the neighborhood groups would serve as an extra set of eyes to help prevent petty crimes, which often lead to bigger problems. Authorities also credit one group in helping solve a major crime in the city.
One of the first things you see when you enter the Valle Vista subdivision is the neighborhood crime watch sign. Jason Bockelman is part of that group and has called police multiple times to report suspicious behavior.
“People casing the area, people who have no literature that are checking through the doors. They’re going through doors and they’re knocking on doors to see who is home during the day,” he said.
Bockelman also has his own security business. So when an elderly woman was sexually assaulted in the neighborhood almost a year ago, neighbors reached out to him.
“At the time it was like, oh my gosh, what’s going on? This is crazy. Nobody had any information, so they weren’t really able to make a decision on what was going to make them safer,” he said.
Now, people feel safer because they know their neighbors are taking the crime watch seriously.
“The best thing you can do is get to know your neighbor. If you don’t know who your neighbor is, how can you talk to them to figure out that something is wrong?” he advised.
Greenwood police encourage all neighborhoods to come together and form watch groups.
“They may see one piece of the puzzle and somebody a couple blocks over has seen another piece of the puzzle. Those two pieces come together and we see the whole picture. The crime got solved,” said Kortney Burrello of the Greenwood Police Department.
Police say it was thanks to neighbors’ tips that assisted them in tracking down Ira Link. Link pleaded guilty to rape in the case of the elderly woman.
“They actually saw things that happened in the neighborhood. They saw the guy before the incident in other parts of the neighborhood before he actually went to the woman’s house,” Burrello said.
If you’d like more information on organizing a neighborhood crime watch group, call Officer Kortney Burrello at 317-882-9191.