Neighborhood watch groups honored for protecting community

ALBANY — Neighborhood watch groups from across the city and county were commended Wednesday by Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas, Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful Director Judy Bowles, Dougherty County Commissioner John Hayes and Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard in an annual gathering held to recognize the groups.

Representatives from more than 10 watch groups across Albany and Dougherty County were present for the honorary ceremony, during which officials paid their respects to each group’s efforts and the role they play in keeping Albany clean and safe.

“It has been an unusual year for us,” Hubbard said. “And, certainly it is wonderful to see some of the same faces that we saw last year. I enjoy being able to see each of you, each year, during the holiday season, when we can say ‘thank you’ for caring about your community and for working with others in your neighborhoods to make our city better.”

According to Hubbard, it is by working together that the Albany-Dougherty community can become stronger and accomplish more.

“The more we are able to work together, the more we will be able to accomplish,” Hubbard said. “Those of you who know me know that I will always say and believe that you can do nothing by yourself. Anybody who has ever accomplished anything of any significance has had others — either standing on the shoulders of others or having others to push them to be successful. So, the only way that we, as a community, are going to be successful is by banding together, standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us and pushing our young people to care about their community.”

Official honorary certificates of appreciation were distributed, one-by-one, to representatives of the various watch groups along with a line of congratulatory handshakes and words of encouragement.

“It is my honor to be able to be here every year to thank you all for everything that you do,” Hubbard said. “I ask and encourage you to keep up the good work and don’t give up, because it is very hard when you have other people in your neighborhood that don’t want to help. But we who really know what it’s all about should not ever give up. We need to try to wrangle those others in, but if they won’t come in with us, then we must go on and keep moving. So thank you very much for what you do.”

Neighborhood Watch programs became popular in the 1970s and 1980s and by 2000, more than 40 percent of the U.S. residential population was covered by such citizen crime-watching programs.

These neighborhood associations typically involve recruiting residents to participate in community meetings and various surveillance tasks around properties and common areas, and a block captain or coordinator may take leadership roles and serve as liaison to the local police.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, citizen policing programs are associated with a “significant reduction in crime.” On average, there is a 16 percent decrease of crime in neighborhood watch communities when compared with non-watch areas.