Residents Form Neighborhood Watch Group

When Heather Prewitt was bothered by trespassers while in her spa one evening, she hurried away to safety but suddenly observed most of the houses on her street were not lit. She felt uncomfortable knocking on anyone's door because she had rushed out of the spa soaking wet — and realized that she didn't know her neighbors.

She decided at that moment that it was time for an official neighborhood watch group to be organized at the Black Diamond Homeowner's Association. 

Prewitt called the Clayton Police Department and got in touch with Herb Yonge, Clayton's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Neighborhood Watch/Crime Prevention trainer.

About 45 Clayton residents met at the for the kickoff meeting. It came about after Prewitt and her "partner in crime," Nancy Shapkaroff, went door-to-door to 226 houses, armed with fliers inviting residents to the meeting.

On March 7, the first neighborhood watch meeting for Black Diamond Homeowner's Assocation was held. Prewitt was the host, offering refreshments and a warm greeting to about 45 people. 

Yonge then took center stage and began collecting information about people's homes. People in the audience members said they were amazed that they didn't recognize the neighbors they were sitting next to.

That illustrated what Yonge said is the No.1 purpose of a neighborhood watch meeting: "Get to know your neighbors!"

He explained how important it is for every community member to be aware of what people and vehicles "belong" in the neighborhood, and urged the audience not to be bashful about reporting suspicious people, vehicles or activity.

Yonge reported a recent ploy by would-be burglars in the vicinity of Yolanda Circle. One person acted as the lookout and another knocked on doors to learn which homes were unattended.

Yonge stressed the importance of getting descriptions of suspicious people and calling the police. He said to program the Clayton Police Department's number into cell phones because 911 calls from those phones are routed to Vallejo CHP. Patching that call to Clayton PD wastes time in an emergency.

Other suggestions included asking those who are soliciting door-to-door without a visible permit to leave the city and providing descriptions of suspicious individuals to police. Yonge suggested practicing by describing random people at the mall or the store.

Another crime-prevention tip was to keep valuables in your car out of sight. Yonge said his wife left a canvas bag of used Tupperware on a car seat and someone broke into the car to get it, likely thinking it was a handbag.

The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, had tips to avoid identity, ATM and  key theft and on how to make your house safer with lighting and landscaping and addresses easily visible to first responders.

Brochures and booklets were handed out along with instructions about where residents can get signs and window stickers about community crime prevention. Yonge also reminded people to attend the CERT training session at the library on March 23.