Angry Residents Not Taking It Anymore : Citizen Involvement Is Welcome, but There Are Limits

About 20 years ago, Neighborhood Watch groups here and elsewhere were relatively scattered and isolated. Such groups had already become something of a symbol, however, of the ability of people to organize, take action and fight back against crime. Perhaps even more importantly, Neighborhood Watch efforts had begun to restore a sense of community in those areas where residents might have previously been strangers to each other. Those acts were born of frustration and necessity; suspicious characters were simply less discernible when residents did not even know who their neighbors were.

Since then, all manner of groups have surfaced to act as extended sets of eyes and ears for local police. No longer do members merely keep a wary eye on the field of vision from their bedroom or living room windows. These days, the most ambitious, inspired, and organized communities (or those most fed up with crime) have civilians walk the streets of their neighborhoods or patrol in cars with cellular phones and two-way radios, cameras and camcorders. Some are better equipped, in that respect, than the Los Angeles Police Department. The best of these groups realize that their role is to report crime and suspicious activities, not to take the law into their own hands.

There have been many variations on this theme. Some groups specifically target graffiti vandals, carefully logging who uses what “tag,” and the location of their costly spray-paint mischief. Arson watch groups are on the lookout for fires and those who might set them.

It was only logical that such groups in the west San Fernando Valley were better organized, better equipped, and able to respond most quickly to last month’s earthquake. And it was only a matter of time before someone came up with the eminently sensible idea of tapping that resource now, to train them to help authorities and successfully weather the next natural disaster to strike Los Angeles. The LAPD and Valley elected officials such as City Council members Hal Bernson and Laura Chick want to do exactly that. But it would be wrong, and perhaps a mistake, to place too heavy a burden on citizens who must ultimately depend on the authorities to maintain social order. And there is a limit to the sophistication they will be able to maintain. Certainly, trained citizens can be quite useful when they know how to check for gas leaks and other problems, by knowing which neighbors are likely to be in need of the most assistance, and by directing police and fire department crews to trouble spots as they arrive on the scene. Citizens groups, however, will never supplant well-trained, full-fledged emergency preparedness teams, nor should they be expected to on even a limited basis.

Moreover, it would be relatively easy to inspire such civic interest in those areas where civilians are already motivated. What about those neighborhoods where such inspiration--if not courage--is lacking? Many of us have heard of neighborhoods that are under such siege by crime, for example, that those who live there are too frightened and intimidated to even report crimes to the police. People in such circumstances might also lack the cohesiveness to pull together in a natural disaster.

But perhaps there is a way to reverse the process here. It’s one thing for a neighborhood to be bludgeoned into submission by unrelenting crime. It might be easier for such communities to rally together against a less vengeful foe, such as the next earthquake, and to achieve the kind of preparations that will be needed to lessen its blow.

Once such a nucleus of community organization and spirit is created, perhaps the local authorities will find those same folks newly emboldened in terms of crime and the need to help police fight another battle.