Sheriff Rekindles Neighborhood Watches

"It is my duty to insure the communities of Worcester County remain safe and a great place to raise your family." ~ Sheriff Reggie Mason

SNOW HILL -- Sheriff Reggie Mason is fulfilling a campaign promise by reviving Worcester County's Neighborhood Crime Watch program.

The sheriff and his deputies, along with Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby, have met with residents of Stockton, Girdletree, Bishopville and Newark about the initiative. Next, the Sheriff's Office will meet with neighbors in Oyster Harbor, Friendship, Germantown, South Point and Whaleyville, according to Detective Dale Trotter, who heads up the crime watch under the department's Community Policing Division.

Mason said he's "tickled" the program will return under his tenure as sheriff.

"I'm very happy. I always liked this program, and I wanted to get it back," he said. "It's all about neighbor looking after neighbor. Hopefully, we'll get some of these smaller parts of the county covered before the year is out. This is one thing I wanted to get back in the communities."

He hopes Crime Watch can help build stronger relationships between the community and the deputies on patrol.

Trotter said people sometimes are afraid to call police and report unusual activity at a neighbor's home or to report a crime in progress, based on a fear of retaliation or having to go to court. It's a mindset he's trying to turn around.

"We're trying to get people to look out, keep their eyes open for suspicious activity, for anything that's out of the ordinary," he said.
"Don't be afraid to call the police -- you can call and be anonymous. Breathe life into your community so you know your neighbor, and you take care of each other."

One of the problems, according to Trotter, is people sometimes believe if nothing is happening in their neighborhood, they don't think they need a Crime Watch.

"However, I think that's when you need a Crime Watch the most," he said. "Generally speaking, if nothing's going on, it's out of your mind. You don't think about it."

The concept of a neighborhood watch emerged in the late 1970s, Mason said. Worcester had an active Neighborhood Crime Watch program that was developed in the early 1990s under Sheriff Chuck Martin.

But the deputy sheriff in charge at that time retired, Trotter said, and the department shifted its manpower to other projects.

Pocomoke City, Berlin and Snow Hill already have their own version of a neighborhood watch, Trotter said. The Ocean City police have established eight individual neighborhood watch groups throughout the resort, from Boardwalk business owners downtown to the north Ocean City residents of the Caine Woods development, according to spokesman Pfc. Mike Levy.

Now that Sheriff Mason is pushing to revitalize the department's community policing efforts, there are other duties deputies will take on. Trotter said he'll personally come out to a person's home for a security evaluation, to see if a person's property is unkempt and a target for thieves.

For kids, he also dresses up as the police mascot character Safety Pup.

"That's been like a big joke, between my friends," Trotter said. "They laugh at me when I dress up like a dog. It's a cartoon character that goes out, talks to the kids, talks about safety. It's a big hit, really."

Ultimately, Trotter said the top priority of the Community Policing Division is to get the word out that "the Sheriff's Office is available for your organization, for your meeting," he said. "We'd like to come out and introduce ourselves, let people know that we put our pants on the same way you do, and we really care about the community."

So far, police efforts already have worked to address one nuisance issue in Stockton.

In meeting with residents, law enforcement found there was a residence that had been vacant for more than a year. Neighbors were reporting the lights were on, and they suspected squatters.

An investigation found that while the home was still empty, and in some disrepair, the owners had left the electricity on because the basement would often flood in a rainstorm and they needed to maintain power to the sump pump. The home has since been cleaned up "and it's not an eyesore anymore to the community," Trotter said.

Reggie Hancock, 81, of Stockton attended the first meeting between neighbors and law enforcement. He said there were about eight people at the meeting, and blamed the low turnout on Hurricane Irene, which passed Delmarva that week.

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