Neighbourhood Watch

[Devonian]

S13's thread on Solid v Stealth Security and the earlier one on Sentries and Look Outs etc got me thinking that the best form of security would in fact be to keep undesirables well away from your property in the first place.

The obvious way to achieve this is by getting together with your neighbours (sorry BP!!) so you all work to protect the street or the estate for example.

Where I live (Modern well spaced out estate, with a series of cul-de-sac's) this could be easily achieved by blocking off and guarding the estate roads - nothing new here I know.

But this then got me thinking about how this would be organised and this is where I was thinking that the likes of the local 'Neighbour Watch' groups could actually be really useful.

In fact Neighbour Watch groups could even be classed as Preppers??

[bigpaul]

there is one way in and same way out again here so blocking that off wouldn't be too difficult.

[Scythe13]

http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/...ghbourhood

http://www.funnyjunk.com/You+Came+to+The...s/4887459/

I think that it'd need to be a more solitary style operation, to provide a better view outside the area.

We're in the process of building a plan toward better securing the road where we live. Problem with doing this...it makes it very clear there are things worth taking!

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(30 May 2014, 14:04)bigpaul Wrote: there is one way in and same way out again here so blocking that off wouldn't be too difficult.

If you have fences, gates, hedges, walls, or a point of the compass in that direction, then there's a way in. The question is about having an EASY way in.

[bigpaul]

fences, gates, hedges and walls can all be blocked in some form or another. we have 1 vehicle access, one way in same way out again, and 1 pedestrian access, both of which can be easily blocked off.

[Devonian]

Scythe13 Wrote: We're in the process of building a plan toward better securing the road where we live. Problem with doing this...it makes it very clear there are things worth taking!

Alternatively it says to the undesirables that the next road over may be easier pickings and less risky to 'their' own ongoing survival.....

Plus for the residents you immediately have significant resources available in terms of not only keeping an eye out but also to repel and protect.

For example if there are say 30 houses in your road (probably conservative in many cases), and say half of them are still occupied after an event, then you immediately grow in strength from a few to many.

Now I am not normally one for groups as I think they are untrustworthy if you do not know them. But in this situation there is a common goal and given that most people in my area also own their homes, they are unlikely to simply give up on their most valuable asset and walk away.

So a neighbour watch group or perhaps a more appropriate name would be a Neighbourhood Protection Group could be beneficial....

[Mortblanc]

When the scavengers start roaming they are not going to bypass anything, no matter you bad or how worthless it looks.

Eventually both you and I are going to be out there combing the land for anything we can put to use. We will turn over every rock and board, search every drawer in every house, haul home every scrap of cloth and chunk of metal that we can use to stay alive.

I would much rather KNOW if a location is occupied so I could avoid it.

Of course in my area one never takes it for granted that everyone you encounter will be unarmed, helpless and easy to steamroll as long as you have a guy behind you and a big stick in our hand. If a residence shows the slightest sign of life one would be risking their life to approach that location.

The "estate" where I lived before moving to my present location was a "gated community".

2,000 acres inside 10 foot fences topped with barbed wire. Perimeter road around the inside of the fence. Private shops and stores inside the fence as well as a large community center and first aid station. 50 acre lake stocked with fish, 18 hole golf course ready to be turned into crops, private community water and sewer systems separate from the grid and mostly occupied by a "younger set" of retired people in their 50s.

Two entrances and two exits both with guard houses that were manned by rotating shifts of private security. Vehicle ID stickers on the windshield or an appointment to put you on "the list" at the guard shack or you did not get in.

Our "neighborhood watch" was a serious business with its own marked vehicles and a "duty roster" that covered a 24/7 rotation among the residents so permanent patrols were maintained. Since we were on "private property" the neighborhood watch was an armed volunteer police force.

The place I live now is surrounded by a lake rather than a fence.

"Doesn't that announce that you have something worth stealing?" you ask.

Hell yes, it does!!

It also says you might die trying to take it!

"Now, you just got to ask yourself, Do you feel lucky?"

[bigpaul]

I'm not too sure about "gated" communities, I mean are we locked OUT or are they locked IN?? in any case they are welcome to it.

[CharlesHarris]

The area where I live is similar to what Mortblanc described, 300-some single-family homes spread over 10,000 acres adjacent to state game lands and national forest. Two gated access control points which are public, two others accessible to public safety and utilities only, controlled by transponder. 24 hour contract security plus volunteer neighborhood watch, trained and managed by Sheriff's Dept.

[bigpaul]

there is such a place I know of, about 20 miles away from here, but its not my sort of place and I would go crazy living there.

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