The DC Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police Depart­ment (MPD) has announced city­wide Neigh­bor­hood Watch Train­ing ses­sions at each of their seven police dis­tricts. In Ward 2, train­ing is planned for Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 24 at the Sec­ond Dis­trict Head­quar­ters (3320 Idaho Avenue, NW).

Neigh­bor­hood Watch is a community-based crime pre­ven­tion pro­gram where neigh­bors look out for each other’s safety, prop­erty, and homes in a sys­tem­atic and sus­tained way. It is based on the idea that when res­i­dents, busi­nesses, clergy, police, and other part­ners look out for the safety of the neigh­bor­hood, estab­lish and main­tain open lines of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and col­lab­o­rate to resolve prob­lems of crime and dis­or­der, they cre­ate safer, friend­lier, and health­ier neighborhoods.

Neigh­bor­hood Watch also serves as a com­mu­ni­ca­tion link for dis­as­ter pre­pared­ness and ter­ror­ism alerts. Since Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001, the ongo­ing threat of ter­ror­ism has neces­si­tated com­mu­nity res­i­dents as well as police to look out for sus­pi­cious activ­i­ties of terrorism.

“The key to strong neigh­bor­hoods is look­ing out for one another,” said Evans. “This train­ing will pro­vide impor­tant infor­ma­tion on orga­niz­ing your block and I encour­age cit­i­zens from across the Ward to attend.”

For more infor­ma­tion con­tact: Yvonne Smith yvonne.smith@dc.gov or call (202) 727‑8809