MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR · JUNE 2001

THIS ISSUE

With the summer months approaching, school’s letting out at the end of the month, and holidays being planned, we, (Neighbourhood Watch), felt this was an opportune time to remind the residents of St. Albert about the benefits of this community awareness program.

Neighbourhood Watch is a program of mutual assistance among neighbours aimed at reducing crime in our communities.

The Program provides a means of reducing the opportunity for crime to occur, through the active participation of citizens in crime prevention. Citizens are taught how to make their homes less inviting as a target for thieves; how to participate in Operation Identification, making their personal property less desirable to burglars and how to be alert to suspicious activity in their neighbourhoods.

Get to know your neighbours. Introduce them to the concept of Neighbourhood Watch. Get involved. A neighbourhood where people are alert to the potential of crime and willing to look out for one another's interests is a neighbourhood where crimes are least likely to occur. Neighbourhood Watch is an invitation to you to be a good neighbour. Good neighbours working together through Neighbourhood Watch can prevent crime in their area the most effective way...Before It Starts!

Through the Neighbourhood Watch Program, we hope to provide St. Albert residents with safety and security tips to protect yourselves and your property,

crime statistics, and updates of activity in your neighbourhood in a timely fashion, and the opportunity to participate in keeping St. Albert a community that is an inviting place to be able to raise a family with a sense of safety and security.

We have had a number of new Steering Committee Members join since the pilot issue of “Neighbourhood Watch” was delivered to select areas of St. Albert.  We provided Personal Safety Tips, What Every Child Should Know, Residential Security Survey Checklist, and Vehicle & Personal Security Tips.

Since the pilot issue, we applied for the Community Crime Prevention Grant Fund, and were awarded funds to produce this issue of the newsletter, as the Minister of Justice and review board felt this project was worthy, and a good medium to assist us in promoting the Neighbourhood Watch program to the residents of St. Albert.

Please feel free to contact any of the Steering Committee members for more information on the program, or e-mail me at laurie.pederson@atcofrontecsecurity.com.

Laurie L. Pederson
Communications Member
St. Albert Neighbourhood Watch