RURAL RESIDENTS ORGANIZE TO THWART CRIMINALS

A program that has worked well to help deter crime in many cities across the country has caught on in rural Cape Girardeau County, and county residents can be thankful for it.

A system of Neighborhood Watch areas, which rely on residents of the areas to observe and report suspicious happenings, has been set up in most of rural Cape Girardeau County.

Watch areas have been established in three volunteer fire districts -- Oak Ridge, Fruitland and East County -- that encompass much of eastern and northern Cape Girardeau County. Bruce Schoen of Oak Ridge was largely responsible for starting the program in 1997, having noticed a Neighborhood Watch sign on a county road while returning home from a trip to Clearwater Lake.

Organizers of the three watch areas have focused on getting people involved, and that of course is the key to the success of the Neighborhood Watch program. Monthly meetings are held in each of the watch areas, and programs on topics of substantial interest often are offered. This month a meeting at Oak Ridge featured a discussion on emergency medicine, and at Fruitland and East County there are presentations on methamphetamine labs by Dr. Robert Briner of the Southeast Missouri Crime Laboratory. Briner's presentation is particularly appropriate since many meth manufacturers take to secluded, rural areas.

The watch areas use a phone-tree system, which involves getting as many people as possible to be on the lookout if suspicious activity is reported. A sheriff's deputy is assigned as liaison to the watch districts, each of which are set up by zones. If suspicious activity is reported, sheriff's dispatchers inform the liaison. He in turn notifies a "commander" in the applicable zone, and as many people as possible become involved in watching for activity.

There is no way to tell how much crime has been averted in the watch districts. But with road signs identifying the Neighborhood Watch areas and word getting around that those areas are Neighborhood Watch areas, criminals undoubtedly have and will continue to avoid doing business there.