Civilians on patrol
In busiest season, crime watch fills a purpose, and now a home
When budget woes forced Wareham to cut seasonal police officer jobs last summer, citizens took the law into their own hands.
Armed with two-way radios and a hefty dose of community pride, Onset Community Crime Watch volunteers patrolled the streets in marked cruisers, looking out for graffiti vandals, suspected drug dealers, and people loitering and drinking on the sidewalks.
"All of this stuff is reported to the police," said George Coleman, a longtime Onset resident who heads the crime watch. "We don't jump out of the cruiser and arrest anybody; we don't have the powers to do that. We're basically the eyes and ears for the Police Department."
The group's ongoing - and increasingly visible - anticrime efforts represent a more aggressive form of civic involvement than is seen in most towns.
Last month the Onset Community Crime Watch Inc. moved into its own storefront office at 211A Onset Ave. and celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters, which it shares with the Wareham Police Department. The office is staffed by volunteers who monitor surveillance cameras and answer visitors' questions about the neighborhood.
Local police welcome the help.
"I don't know of any [area crime watches] as big and successful as this one," said Wareham Police Lieutenant Donald R. Bliss. It helps offset staff cuts. "Last year we had a tough year. . . . We had no summer police officers. Usually we put 15 to 30 on, and we really, really need them."
The Onset Community Crime Watch was established in 2004, in response to an increase in crime, and has been growing ever since. The village is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Wareham, a seaside town with a year-round population of 20,000 that swells to more than 40,000 during the summer months.
The crime watch operates as a nonprofit organization with 81 volunteers and gets support through donations.
Volunteers patrol the streets in two Crown Victorias - one was purchased with donations, and the other was purchased with drug forfeiture money provided by the Plymouth district attorney's office - that are equipped with two-way radios, first aid kits, rescue throw ropes, and life preservers. The Wareham Police Department's tip line, 508-291-2300, is emblazoned on the side of the cars. The group also uses a 2000 Ford Econoline van that was donated by the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department.
Such citizen efforts have proven to be effective crime-fighters in areas where police departments are understaffed, according to the Washington-based National Crime Prevention Council. Unlike traditional crime watch organizations, whose activities are often limited to neighbors peering through curtains, some groups - like the one in Onset - go further by organizing civilian patrols.
Civilian patrols "are just a further evolution from the neighborhood watch concept," said Terri Kelly, the council's managing director for community outreach. "They require more background screening and training, so they're less common than traditional neighborhood watch groups, in general."
The National Crime Prevention Council recommends that citizen patrol members undergo a criminal background check, receive proper training and support from a local law enforcement agency, and be instructed not to carry or use weapons while on duty.
Citizen patrols have formed in cities and towns all over the country. In New York, members of the 114th Civilian Observation Patrol have used vehicles, bicycles, and old-fashioned shoe leather to keep an eye on the streets of a neighborhood in Queens, and the NorthEast Bronx Association also has a civilian mobile patrol program that is staffed by volunteers.
Elsewhere in Massachusetts, the Fitchburg Police Department runs a citizen patrol program, providing volunteers with uniforms and a refurbished police vehicle equipped with a radio. Another local crime watch group in Boston won praise in 2005 for taking the initiative to get walkie-talkies and conduct regular patrols in Chinatown.
The group's efforts were lauded by the Boston Police Department, and some city officials hailed it as a model for other urban neighborhoods.
Members of the Onset citizen patrol wear yellow jackets labeled "Crime Watch" and assist police during community events such as the Swan Festival, Onset Blues Festival, and the Cape Verdean Festival.
They walk along Onset Avenue and make sure businesses' doors are locked. They drive around Onset, and other parts of Wareham, looking for suspicious activity. They also report seemingly mundane things that are important to public safety, such as tree limbs in the road or broken street lights.
"Crime breeds in the dark," said Coleman, who worked as a Sharon police officer for 14 years. Coleman, who has lived in Onset for 20 years, founded the crime watch organization in 2004.
The new headquarters gives the group a visible presence on Onset Avenue, a thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants frequented by throngs of summer visitors. The office occupies the ground floor of a two-story building that was built around the turn of the last century.
The previous tenant was a liquor store. Today, white letters on the storefront windows read "Community Safety Partnership" - which Coleman said represents the collaboration of the Wareham Police Department, Onset Community Crime Watch, and the public.
They were able to open the office with grant money from the
In one incident, a person was stabbed. Then, earlier this year, McCane said she and her husband saw a brawl break out in their street. Not only did they report the fight to the police, but they videotaped the scene. Most of the people involved scattered when the police arrived, she said, and those who stayed behind, "we could hear them giving false statements to police."
She and her husband showed the police their video, which resulted in several arrests.
McCane, an Army veteran who recently returned from Iraq, said those incidents made her want to do more to keep her neighborhood safe.
"If I can fight terrorists in Iraq, I can fight for something that's so precious to me - my home," she said.
McCane now volunteers at the crime watch office two days a week. She and other volunteers answer phones, monitor surveillance cameras, and give out bicycle helmets.
She also distributes such things as maps, accident report forms, firearms applications, and copies of the town's antinoise bylaw.
The Community Safety Partnership office also serves as a substation for Wareham police officers, said Bliss, the Wareham lieutenant.
"I really give them credit," he said. "They stuck with it. It's been positive for the town."
This summer, enough police funding has been restored to put 15 summer officers back on the beat during busiest months of the year, he said.
"Last summer was awful," said Cheryl Callahan, an Onset resident who volunteers with the crime watch. Large groups of young people often loitered in front of stores on Onset Avenue, she said, and their belligerent behavior scared off elderly people and families with young children. "People were afraid to go out."
She said she's happy that the crime watch has a home on Onset Avenue, because its presence gives residents and tourists a peace of mind.
"Everybody is happy to see this," she said.
"We believe it's really making a difference."
Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com.
