St. John’s Coun. Jamie Korab says many people in the Cowan Heights area are concerned about perceived increases in crime and are working toward implementing the city’s Neighbourhood Watch program.
“There’s a lot of chatter, you know, ‘My car’s been broken into again,’ different criminal activity in the area, so it’s something that the neighbours have been asking for,” said Korab.
While the program can be implemented relatively easily for a small street, it requires more organization in larger areas.
“Where Cowan Heights is huge – I don’t know the exact numbers, there’s probably close to 10,000 people – you can’t have just one Neighbourhood Watch because the area is too big. So, you need to break it down into streets or certain sections,” said Korab.
For that reason, he’s holding an information session in which area residents can learn what a Neighbourhood Watch entails and begin setting it up.
“It’s something that we need the residents really to take on, where there’s probably going to need to be anywhere from eight to 20 different neighbourhood watches, so it wouldn’t be possible for me to head all those up,” he said.
Neighbourhood Watch is a free program offered through the city. It does not require residents to patrol streets or take on the role of police.
The information session will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Cowan Heights United Church on Frecker Drive.
