After doing some exploration, we are taking the plunge in starting a rural neighborhood watch group outside Stotts City, Missouri. We are starting with the neighborhood surrounding our farm and will set the groundwork to replicate the effort in nearby neighborhoods.

We have been working over the past few months to reach out to neighbors, increase communications by making sure people have each others' contact information, increasing the prevalence of two-way radios (CB and GMRS, a few short-wave receivers), keeping each other informed on what should be considered 'normal' activity for our area, and finding out who may need help and who may be able to get it.

We have had some informal activity already, with neighbors calling law enforcement when we have suspicious activity (e.g. people scoping out the neighborhood) and turning out for minor emergencies. We are the point of starting formal meetings, putting together a call tree, and connecting with the local Sheriff's Department. Six families/ranchers are actively involved in this process so far with additional interest in the surrounding area. We are also well-positioned to start a REACT team here, monitoring CB and radio traffic on the 44 corridor to relay information to emergency personnel.

Now, most neighborhood watches are of course urban and setting one up in a rural farming area will take some careful thought (but it is not unheard of). It also makes even more sense here than it does for our city citizens: there is much less resources available for law enforcement patrolling in rural areas and it is much harder to detect or investigate burglaries. Law enforcement or emergency response is, of necessity, much slower here and your neighbors are often your nearest and quickest help.

The Neighborhood Watch information is online, including a printable "implementation manual" and document templates. If you do not have one in your area, consider starting. As we gain experience going through this process and hooking up with the various local professionals (Sherriff's office, 911 dispatch, volunteer fire, etc), we will post information and stories.