Giving Back : NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH : ‘Keep the Criminal Element Out’

Recent news stories and internal Los Angeles Police Department reports have criticized the effectiveness of community policing and suggested that Neighborhood Watch volunteers are at risk in the toughest neighborhoods. But there are some towns where both concepts work.

Police volunteer Ralph E. Pray coordinates Neighborhood Watch in Monrovia, a San Gabriel Valley city of 36,000 residents. Pray, 67, is a metallurgical engineer who runs his own laboratory business. He spoke with BERKLEY HUDSON about how community policing and Neighborhood Watch are cutting crime in his city.

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I was drawn into community service because there was a distressing need in Monrovia.

I have an office building, a one-story, brick building with my business and an apartment in it where I live with my wife. On a daily basis I would see illegal activity outside on the sidewalk.

There was prostitution, narcotics dealing and some gang activity. I saw this for 10 years without doing anything, except occasionally calling the police.

A patrol car would come. But by that time, the people performing the illegal acts would stop. Some had police scanners and would hear the dispatch to the police car.

Four years ago, I saw a notice that volunteers were needed by the police department. I thought somebody better do something about my neighborhood, that this was an opportunity to do something for my community.

As a result of volunteering, I was asked to serve as coordinator for Neighborhood Watch. I worked with the crime prevention officer of Monrovia police to resurrect Neighborhood Watch.

Before I volunteered, the new police chief, Joe Santoro, had arrived in town. He said: “I’m a Neighborhood Watch man.” He went to 40 neighborhood meetings that first year.

As coordinator, I help set up meetings. Sometimes gang experts bring in people to show Neighborhood Watch groups the clothing gangs wear. They show people what crack looks like. The canine patrol people bring their dog.

Each police division has made a contribution. It was a new thing for hundreds and hundreds of Monrovia residents to have uniformed police in their homes telling them what police did and how much police liked the city.

The effect was a steamroller. People responded in a positive way. We also had earthquake preparedness sessions. The fire chief came. Representatives from the electric company, the gas and water companies came.

It took three nights a week of meetings the first years. We were physically trying to bring down the crime rate. We were doing it through education, organizing and through the involvement of police with the public. The result has been good rapport between the public and police.

Citizens have to engage in self-policing. This isn’t being a vigilante.

The situation in my neighborhood was difficult. All the dumb criminals were in jail. All the smart ones were on my sidewalk.

It became evident that the way to clean up my neighborhood required the offices of code enforcement, building inspection, the fire department, the sanitation department, the health department.

They could bring so much pressure to bear on landlords, residents and groups of people that were not law-abiding. So things did improve.

I haven’t seen any repercussions or revenge from other people being involved in Neighborhood Watch. But it did happen to me once. I went into the worst neighborhood, alone, with a Neighborhood Watch badge on my jacket.

I walked up to a group of young people. One had a bottle of vodka and was drinking. When they saw my (police) I.D., they hustled the drinker away. I told them we were going to have a Neighborhood Watch meeting and I needed help. They didn’t respond.

I walked up to older people, people watering their lawns and working on cars. I had a wonderful response. But when I came back to my car, it was broken into, with all four tires flat and my wallet gone.

The police department can’t stop crime. Police can only respond to it. Citizens have to stop crime by getting together and keeping the criminal element out.

You control your neighborhood by collectively calling city agencies that bring to bear existing regulations that will solve the problems. This has been proven in Monrovia. There’s been a 21% reduction in crime in the past year.

It’s interesting to hear about communities where they say Neighborhood Watch doesn’t work. There’s a big difference in some communities, especially big cities, that don’t have full cooperation between police and citizens.

We’re a small city but we have 2,000 Neighborhood Watch members on 160 blocks.

Volunteers go into neighborhoods and knock on door after door and say: “Please join Neighborhood Watch.” When I go, I usually have an officer or two standing beside me.

That’s when it works. The man or woman in the door of their homes can only say: “Somebody cares.” If that happens enough times on a block, Neighborhood Watch works.