Dougherty Commissioner Jones plans neighborhood watch meeting

ALBANY — Anthony Jones is a man of his word. So residents of southeast Dougherty County’s District 6 who recall a campaign promise Jones might have made as he successfully challenged longtime incumbent Jack Stone for the seat he’s held now for almost two years, be patient.

Jones will no doubt get around to it.

One of Jones’ campaign platform policies was a promise he made to work to get a neighborhood watch program going in every neighborhood in the district. He’s helped in that regard already, but Jones is ready to make a bigger push to cover the entire district.

On Thursday, Jones is hosting a neighborhood watch organizational and planning meeting at the East Albany Neighborhood Police Precinct at 1721 E. Oglethorpe Blvd. He’s inviting every citizen in the district, including those who are already involved in watch groups, to come and share ideas.

“When I ran for office, I said that I would work to get a neighborhood watch program in every neighborhood of District 6,” Jones said. “That’s what this meeting Thursday is all about. I’ve reached out — personally, through the media, through social media, through PSAs … everything I could think of — to every neighborhood in the district.

“With the exception of a very few, I’ve gotten feedback from the neighborhoods. I’ve heard from more than 108 people who said they were interested in doing whatever they needed to do to make this happen. I sent out more than 100 individual letters to people who expressed interest in this program during my campaign. I’m serious about making this happen.”

Officials with the Dougherty County Police Department, including Assistant Chief Kenneth Johnson, will be on hand at Thursday’s meeting, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m., to talk about successful neighborhood watch programs. Jones said the DCP input, along with shared ideas from already established watch programs, should benefit existing programs as well as new ones looking to get started.

“We want to get these watch groups up and running,” he said. “We want to get signs up letting would-be crooks know that people are looking out for each other in these neighborhoods. We want folks to realize that there’s no such thing as a nosy neighbor. We want to get our citizens used to calling 911 when they see something suspicious at their neighbors’ homes.

“We’ve all got to look out for each other.”

For questions about Thursday’s meeting or starting a neighborhood watch group in District 6, contact Jones at (229) 344-9770 or online at [email protected].