Fresno is revamping its Neighborhood Watch program. Here’s how you can get involved

Fresno Police & Neighborhood Watch is revamping and expanding thanks to a new investment from the city of Fresno.

Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza secured $300,000 to reorganize and expand neighborhood watch programming in the city.

The funding will go toward 10 new educational watch meetings per month, per district, four crime prevention workshops monthly, and the publication of an electronic newsletter each month to improve communication where police can monitor for urgent safety alerts. The group also aims to grow by 100 new active groups by June 2023.

City and Neighborhood Watch leaders announced the revamp Wednesday morning during a news conference at City Hall.

To spark new neighborhood engagement, the organization is encouraging Fresno residents to host a “Neighbors Night Out” event for their neighborhood on Sept. 21 or 22.

“Neighborhoods are encouraged to plan a social event or get together just to get to know their neighbors. It’s a neighborhood watch with a new mindset,” said Mary Haskin, president of Fresno Police & Neighborhood Watch.

“It’s not just about looking for suspicious activity on your street,” she said. “It’s about building community with your neighbors and collaborating with the appropriate law enforcement or city agency. It’s time to stop talking about it and start making a difference. I’m asking all residents of Fresno to join us. A connected neighborhood is a safer neighborhood.”

Haskin grew up in Fresno and moved back to her childhood home in 2009 to find the neighborhood changed in ways she disliked. She got involved with Neighborhood Watch and organized her block. The group was able to help Fresno police identify a house where the residents were “running drugs, cars and girls,” Haskin said.

The organization isn’t just focused on preventing crime in neighborhoods, Haskin said. She noted that the group also organized around graffiti, and now the city has an abatement team to tackle the problem.

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, Police Chief Paco Balderrama and Esparza all encouraged residents to get engaged in their neighborhoods.

“Some of the most successful neighborhoods in the city are among the most well-organized neighborhoods in this city — neighborhoods where the social fabric is made up of a common bond,” Esparza said. “Wanting to improve our community block by block was such a critical tool in organizing our communities here and residents. While Neighborhood Watch is first and foremost about public safety, it’s not only about public safety. It’s more about bringing together Fresno residents to exercise their unified voice within our city government.”

Dyer said that while he was police chief, Neighborhood Watch groups were necessary to report and prevent crime. There were times Neighborhood Watch groups provided police with information that led to arrests, he said.

“It is important as a community that we look out for one another,” Dyer said. “We cannot rely on the police department in total to keep people safe and to protect property. It requires each and every one of us to look out for each other and to look out for each other’s property.”

Balderrama agreed that community involvement is key to safety. He said programs such as Neighborhood Watch also help build trust between police and the community.

“A lot of times, people just solely look forward to the police department to make improvements in public safety,” Balderrama said. “But that’s not the way it works. We need that community involvement, not just for communication but also to increase that trust between the police department and the community. It is impossible for any police department to police a community that doesn’t trust them.”

For more information about the Neighbor Night Out event or to get involved with Fresno Police & Neighborhood Watch, visit their website at makefresnosafer.org.