EVERETT – Residents of Glenhaven Drive were fed up with Christmas gifts disappearing from their doorsteps.
Last holiday season, crooks would follow UPS trucks through the north Everett neighborhood, swiping packages moments after they were dropped off.
This year, neighbors were ready. Mobilized as a block watch, they called police whenever they saw suspicious vehicles. By Christmas, only one package was reported stolen.
“We’re looking out for each other,” said Julie Hansen, a Glenhaven Drive resident who leads the neighborhood’s block watch. “That’s been a big change over the past year, and it’s been nice.”
About a dozen new block watches have taken root in Everett during the past year and a half. They’ve helped police keep a lid on crime, Everett crime prevention officer Steve Paxton said.
Several cities in Snohomish County – such as Arlington, Mill Creek and Mukilteo – have reported sharp increases this year in burglaries, car thefts and other property crimes. Meanwhile, Everett’s crime rate seems to have held steady, Paxton said.
Crooks are less likely to strike when they believe they’re being watched, he said.
“We could certainly attribute some of that to the awareness in the neighborhoods,” Paxton said. “It’s definitely reassuring, and it’s exciting.”
The city’s largest block watch, called the Northwest Neighborhoods Block Watch Network, is composed of 20 neighborhood groups north of 19th Street and west of Broadway. The group’s first meeting was in May, said Shannon Affholter, a north Everett man who leads his neighborhood’s block watch.
Members of the block watch network use an e-mail tree to stay in contact with each other. They send out alerts about suspicious people passing through, or they’ll relay bulletins with safety tips to help guard against crime.
In October, the network’s e-mail tree helped police track down a man and a woman who were wanted in connection with a residential burglary in the area.
The network reported about 20 serious crimes during its first five weeks, said Affholter, who, with his children, knocked on hundreds of doors in north Everett to encourage people to join his block watch.
“There are some innovative ways that we can harness leverage in a community to manage this crime problem,” Affholter said.
Paxton regularly meets with block watch captains throughout the city. Police often focus their patrols in areas where block watches report increases in crime.
More importantly, block watches help people feel safe in their neighborhoods, Paxton said.
“We’re not out just to reduce the numbers,” Paxton said. “We also want to decrease the fear of crime, and increase the quality of life as much as possible.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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