Tuesday, August 2, 2011 is Night Out, a national crime prevention event that encourages blocks or neighborhoods to get out of their houses and into the streets for one night. It's about meeting and spending time with neighbors with a premium on having a good time. According to the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains, it is also a great opportunity to recruit new blockwatch members and verify everyone’s contact information for future communications about safety.
On Tuesday July 26, the Seattle Police Department converted their Twitter feed into a stream of every call they get and kept it up for 12 hours straight. They took the step to educate the public as to the sheer volume of calls received and to dramatize the need for public awareness of crime and crime prevention.
The tactic alienated several hundred followers but the point was made.
What follows is a list of ideas from Mark Solomon, Southwest Precinct crime prevention coordinator, and meeting attendees for what has worked well in the past (including a few law enforcement tips from CPT Officer Jonathan Kiehn):
-Potlucks are the most common way to feed the masses. A few creative ideas that emerged include having one side of the street provide main course proteins while the other side brings desserts or sides (switch each year), gathering barbeques in a central location and firing them up for anyone’s use (this person’s block preferred to bring their own meat instead of potlucking it) or charging a reasonable fee to anyone who wants to eat the good stuff (like salmon or steak). Another suggestion was having everyone bring their own plates and silverware to the potluck to reduce waste.
-Plan fun activities for the neighborhood kids like egg races, sidewalk chalk art, bike races, clowns, putt-putt golf or bouncy houses
-If your party is on a non-arterial street you are allowed to close off the road with barriers (no permit is required on Night Out). Solomon said not to use cars to block off the road just in case emergency vehicles need to get through quickly. In addition, have people park off the street before the party starts to create more party space.
-If you decided to hire live music take into consideration noise level, universal music selections and possibly going acoustic rather than electric.
-When registering your party with Seattle Police they will do their best to bring by fun packs of toys for the kids along with emergency preparedness materials for the adults. These materials may also be available for pickup from the Southwest Precinct prior to Night Out. While registering you have the option of making your party public so politicians looking for face time or media groups looking for a story can stop by. If you would rather keep it private, just make a note of that when registering.
-Solomon said the best window for a party is 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., giving late workers a chance to get home and early sleepers a chance at peace and quiet.
-Drinking beer and wine on closed off streets during Night Out parties is OK as long as there are no complaints, according to Officer Kiehn. The same goes for noise – police response would only be complaint driven. This year’s event is on a Tuesday night so noise complaints can come in anytime past 10 p.m.
-Icebreakers – if people on your block are not familiar with each other consider having icebreaker games or even putting something interesting about yourself on your nametag.
-Solomon said he made the mistake several years back of distributing whistles to the kids and suggested no one, under any circumstances, do the same.
“Blockwatch is about communication. It’s about communicating with each other, communicating with neighbors, communicating with police,” Solomon said. And Night Out is a way to develop a blockwatch while having a good time.
Other news
The West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network will take a “summer hiatus” from meeting for the next two months, according to co-captains Deb Greer and Karen Berge. The next meeting will be Sept. 27 at the Southwest Precinct. In the meantime they are still available through their website and will have booths set up at the West Seattle Summer Fest (July 9-11) and Alki Art Fair (July 23-24).
For the calendar, the Southwest Precinct Picnic will be held on August 20th. More details to come but Officer Kiehn said to expect some unique visitors including the SPD Mounted Patrol, a bomb squad robot and K-9s.
