Cops, activists plan web of area’s crime watches

The Boston Police Department will be collaborating with local community organizations to launch an extensive system of neighborhood watches in the coming weeks. The so-called Greater Neponset Crime Watch is spearheaded by Carolyn MacNeil, the BPD’s Director of the Neighborhood Watch Unit, and Phil Carver, the President of the Popes Hill Neighborhood Association.

MacNeil is currently putting out a “call to action” to residents of Dorchester, hoping to round up local volunteers and members of the disparate existing neighborhood watches.

“I have 14 boxes of paperwork about neighborhood watches in Dorchester,” said MacNeil. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to connect all these neighborhood watches at one point?”

The ideal result of such an undertaking, MacNeil says, would be a network of coordinators that would represent communities down to the street level. The target area stretches from Norfolk St. in the west to Adams St. in the east, and between Victory Road in the north and Hilltop St. in the south. Residents would communicate with these coordinators, who would then give information to the police.

MacNeil also hopes to upload a database of 780 existing neighborhood watch groups in Dorchester communities to BPD’s website in coming weeks, which will be updated to keep residents informed about their local resources. The coordinators will also expedite neighborhood alerts by sending e-mails around their communities.

 “A lot of the time a tragedy happens which causes people to form a neighborhood watch, but the group dissolves after the problem is handled by the police,” said Phil Carver. “We want to break down the stereotype that talking to police on a regular basis is a bad thing.”

If you are interested in joining the Greater Neponset Crime Watch or want more information contact Carolyn MacNeil at 617-343-5682.


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