Neighborhood Watch works to educate the participants in the principles of deterrence, delay and detection. The program depends on a communication network organized with three levels of participants:
• The residents Block Captains and Coordinates
• A local law enforcement representative
• The police are partners in enforcement using information from this network to prevent crime.

How to Develop a Program
Visit your neighbors and tell them you are interested in discouraging crime in your neighborhood. Ask for their help in working toward this goal. Organize a neighborhood meeting. Contact your local police representative to address the group and answer their questions.

The Greenville Police Department requires a majority of the people in a neighborhood to participate in the program in order to qualify as a Neighborhood Watch. If the group decides to organize a Neighborhood Watch, block captains and coordinates should be selected.

Block captains should prepare a watch or zone map, listing names, addresses, telephone numbers, license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions for each residence on their block. Copies should be distributed to each participating household.

The Greenville Police Department has crime prevention officers available to perform security surveys on each residence in the program. Once the police department’s requirements are met Neighborhood Watch signs may be erected by the City at selected locations.
For more information about starting a Neighborhood Watch Program in your neighborhood, contact Crime Prevention Unit at (662) 378-1515 ext: 253. 

Home Safety Tips
Burglary is a serious crime to which we are all vulnerable. It is however one of the most preventable of crimes. A few simple precautions will greatly reduce the possibility that you will become a victim of this crime. Follow these guidelines to help prevent crime in your home:

•Make your home look occupied at all times.

•Leave interior lights on when you go out for the night and utilize exterior lighting or motion sensitive outdoor lighting.

•Lock your outside doors and windows before you leave the house or go to bed.
Do not allow daily deliveries, such as mail and newspaper, to accumulate.

•If you are gone, have a neighbor pick up these items for you and arrange to have your lawn cut in the summer.
 
•You should maintain a detailed description, pictures and the serial numbers of all appliances, tools, radios, televisions, firearms, and other valuables you own.

•Whenever possible, inscribe or label your valuables with your driver's license number.
The Greenville Police Department offers programs that provide crime prevention techniques you may implement to help protect you and your home.
 
Crime Prevention officer can also conduct a security check of your home or business to make sure it is safe. For more information about home safety programs, or to receive safety brochures at your home, contact the Greenville Police Department, Crime Prevention Unit at (662) 378-1515 ext: 253 or 662-822-4147.

Personal Safety Tips
Self protection means knowing how to avoid being the victim of an attack or robbery by keeping alert for the unexpected and not taking unnecessary chance. It also includes knowing what to do if you are a victim and acting with common sense and cooperating with authorities. The Greenville Police Department has programs in place to help protect yourself against crime. Programs include precautions to take at home, precautions to take while walking or driving a car, sexual assault and robbery prevention, and various other topics of concern. Programs are intended to help you evaluate a crime risk and provide you with skills and information to help reduce the possibility of crime occurring and what to do if you do become a victim. For more information about personal safety programs, or to receive safety brochures at your home, contact the Greenville Police Department at (662) 378-1515 ext: 253.

Statistics
Since inception July 4, 1988, crime Stoppers of Greenville-Washington County, a nonprofit organization with a civilian board of Directors with the assistance of the Greenville Police Department and citizens in the community has logged more than:
• 4,889 Calls
• 599 Felony Cases
• 12 Homicides
• 406 Arrests
$58,705.00 Awards
$102,525.00 Narcotics
$33,314.00 Forfeitures
$526,876.39 Recovered Property
Total $662,715.39