CRIME PREVENTION -Community
Neighbors helping neighbors to reduce or eliminate crime in their own neighborhood is the basis of our crime prevention program.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office offers a full complement of training programs designed to train and assist county residents in maintaining the security of their homes and the tranquility of their community life.
Community Watch
Creating Crime Free, Caring Neighborhoods. Each day the residents of Salt Lake County confront property crimes and threats of crime. In some instances residents also confront personal crimes such as assaults, robbery or sexual assault.
Citizens generally agree the most popular and proven community crime prevention strategy is Community Watch. These programs call for citizens in designated areas to become trained to notice and report criminal or suspicious behavior near their homes. The purpose of Community Watch is dual – to learn how to protect oneself and family, and to learn how to work together to prevent crime.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and residents of Salt Lake County form the crucial partnership in this strategy. Crime Prevention Services provide training to all citizens willing to set aside an hour of their time and meet together with their neighbors to determine the concerns of area residents and determine measures we all can take to reduce crime and the fear of crime in our neighborhoods.
The most successful Community Watch groups go beyond just being the "eyes and ears" for the Sheriff's Office, although that is a valuable service we ask those citizens to perform. We encourage citizen groups to sponsor community clean-ups, collect clothing, blankets and toys for homeless people, organize after-school activities for young people, help victims of crime, and form task forces that influence our lawmakers and policymakers.
Make no mistake about it. Attending a one-hour Community Watch meeting is not all that will be required to make your community safe. It involves neighbors watching out after their neighbors and reporting suspicious persons and circumstances to the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. A trained crime prevention specialist will conduct the orientation meeting at your home, a school, a church, a library or any other facility of your choosing. Weather permitting some neighborhoods choose to conduct their meeting outdoors. A Community Oriented Policing deputy sheriff will join the meeting to offer his or her assistance in dealing with neighborhood concerns such as a drug house, gang activity, juvenile problems or vandalism.
We seek people who will be vigilant, but not vigilantes, to observe and report any and all suspicious persons or vehicles in your neighborhoods.
Block Captain Training
After the Community Watch orientation meeting in a specific neighborhood we sometimes are asked to provide additional training for individuals who volunteer to serve as Block Captains. This training was developed to explain the duties and responsibilities of a Block Captain and how they can best serve the needs and interests of their community.