Neighbors taking control of own safety

LOOKING OUT: The coordinator of a year-old neighborhood watch group in Cottonwood, Sandra Flower holds her son David outside their home in Cottonwood.

Just southeast of Anderson, a concerned resident is troubled by recent events in her neighborhood. Three businesses at the corner of Balls Ferry and Deschutes roads were spray painted with graffiti earlier this month and a nearby abandoned house has drawn vagrants, Linda Schreiber said last week at her Balls Ferry Road home. Also noting the 2007 bulldozing of the nearby Sikh Centre, Schreiber said she thinks a neighborhood watch is in order.

If she seeks a model for a thriving neighborhood watch, she doesn't have far to look. Sandra Flower of Cottonwood coordinates a neighborhood watch group that includes about 200 homes south of Gas Point Road in the White Oak Drive area. The watch started a year ago, spurred on by a string of summer burglaries in Cottonwood in 2009.

Through the neighborhood watch, members share information about suspicious activity with each other and with the Shasta County Sheriff's Department. She keeps everyone in touch through e-mail newsletters.

Neighbors watch out for each other while on vacation and suspicious activity gets reported to the sheriff's department, said Arnie Brinton, the volunteer coordinator of the Shasta County Sheriff's Department.

"I think the biggest benefit is neighbors are more aware and (are willing to) do something about it," Flower said.

Flower said residents are still learning that it is okay to call the sheriff's office to report suspicious activity. Residents can call the sheriff's office dispatch number for non-emergencies and not have to dial 911, Flower said. Some activity, she said, gets logged by the neighborhood watch and only sent on to the sheriff's office when patterns develop, she added.

Beyond reporting potential criminal activity, the neighborhood watch has helped people track down lost pets and get to know their neighbors. Flower also started a Teen Helper Program, in which youths can get paid by doing odd jobs for neighbors.

"Neighbors are meeting each other, strangers are becoming friends, and most importantly, we have means to communicate with each other...." Flower said. "I have neighbors report everything they have concerns about to me and I pass the information on through our e-mail system."

Flower added that she hopes to create a network between the coordinators of area neighborhood watch programs.

Residents interested in forming a neighborhood watch should contact Brinton at 347-5903.

"I'll be happy to send them a packet of materials about how to get organized," Brinton said.

To contact the sheriff's office dispatch center, call 245-6540.