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Ventura Police Department is encouraging residents to start their own Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch is being revived in Ventura
Ventura Police
Neighborhood Watch is being revived in Ventura

Safe and secure neighborhoods – that’s the idea behind Neighborhood Watch Programs.

It’s a program which has been around in some communities for some time.

And Ventura Police Department are reviving the idea of a Neighborhood Watch program.

Ventura Police Chief Darin Schindler told KCLU that encouraging residents to take an active role in crime prevention is a way to reduce criminal activity.

He said that the goal of the program is to reduce crime through education, increased neighborhood reporting, and improved communication among neighbors.

“Many criminals are opportunists,” said Schindler. “Neighbors that are willing to communicate and interact with each other are better able to identify and report suspicious activity and safeguard their homes, ultimately preventing criminal activity.”

He added that, Neighborhood Watch does not give residents the power to take law enforcement action when observing suspicious activity, and that community members are the extra eyes and ears of the Ventura Police Department and should report suspicious activity to law enforcement.

To learn more about the Neighborhood Watch Program, please visit www.CityofVentura.ca.gov/NeighborhoodWatch.

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award for three consecutive years in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Since joining the station she's also won 11 Golden Mike Awards, 8 Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Awards, 4 National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and three Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Excellence in Writing, Diversity and Use of Sound.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded by Prince Philip for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for twelve years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.