About 200 residents of one Newport Beach neighborhood came together last week to get to know each other, promote crime prevention and have fun.
Neighbors from nearby homes attended the Spyglass Hill 2nd Annual Picnic in Spyglass Hill Park on Tuesday. The Spyglass Neighborhood Watch hosted the event.
The picnic featured a food truck, music, games, and Newport Beach Police Department representatives.
It was timed to coincide with National Night Out and aimed at connecting people with their neighbors and highlighting crime prevention, explained NBPD Crime Prevention Specialist, Erica Sperling, who was on hand to answer questions and talk to residents.
“It’s a fantastic way to connect with their neighbors,” she said.
The idea behind both the event and the program is to promote communication between neighbors, connect with other residents, have fun and help create a safer community, explained Cambria Drive resident and Spyglass Neighborhood Watch leader, Therese Loutherback.
The program has been in place for about two years.
“These types of programs encourage a proactive approach to taking care of their area,” said NBPD Lieutenant Jon Lewis, who also attended the event. “Some of our best information comes from our residents that are looking out for each other and see suspicious activity.”
There are many ways the group stays on top of things in their area, said San Martin Way block captain Mary Renter. Her husband, Dennis, bought their Spyglass home in 1974.
They host block parties, share NBPD’s Nixle alerts, post signs and video cameras, and encourage everyone to stay alert.
Joe Bentley, block captain for Montecito Drive, has held two parties for his neighbors.
The parties are a nice way to get to know each other, commented Bentley, who has lived in Spyglass since 1984.
They have also started spyglasshillnextdoor.com. Nextdoor is a private online social network for neighborhoods.
The block captains also meet among themselves and with the police and other Neighborhood Watch groups from around the city on a quarterly basis.
The group is also starting Friday Night Front Porch Parties. These are neighborhood-wide events on the first Friday of the month at one residents houses. Everybody brings an appetizer and drink.
“It’s about getting to know your neighbors and building community spirit,” said Bodega Bay Drive resident Jane Stratton, the Spyglass Neighborhood Watch member organizing the Friday Night Porch Parties
program.
“This community is really a model for Neighborhood Watch,” Sperling said.
The neighbors also watch each other’s homes while they’re away on vacation, take note of regular workers that come into the neighborhood (gardeners, cleaners, etc.) , Renter said.
“Everybody looks outside and we know the cars that are supposed to be there,” she said.
“We have encouraged everyone to be vigilant for each other by calling the police department if they see a suspicious person or suspicious vehicle,” Loutherback said. “And they’ve been doing it.”
It’s definitely been effective, she said.
“I think we’ve seen a noticeable difference,” Renter agreed.
Less than two years ago there were seven burglaries in 12 months, Loutherback explained. The current number is down to just one in the last nine months, she said.
It’s hard to measure how much the Neighborhood Watch group has contributed to the decrease, she continued, but having a presence definitely helps.
“This area is fairly low crime,” Sperling said. “I attribute a lot of that to the strong Neighborhood Watch that’s in place here.”
People feel safe, Lewis continued , which is good, but they also need to continue to stay alert and lock their doors and vehicles and secure their valuables.
“While our community is very safe up here, we don’t want to provide people with an opportunity (to commit a crime),” he said.
The community help really makes a difference, Sperling noted.
“They’re the eyes and ears of the community,” she said. “They let us know what’s going on. Then we can go out there and make sure everything stays safe.”
This has always been a pretty safe neighborhood, Lewis added.
“The difference is in the community involvement over the past couple of years,” he said. “An increase of people getting to know each other, looking out for each other. And that’s the kind of thing that we encourage.”
It all comes back to getting to know the neighbors, Bentley said.
“You can live somewhere, and I’ve lived a lot of places, and never really know your neighbors,” Stratton agreed.
“It really adds a lot to the quality of life to know you neighbors,” Bentley said. “You watch out for each other, but you also enjoy seeing each other… We become friends.”
