As more of the mountain is developed, our need for an active and vigilant community watch program is all the greater.

Community watch duty is a schedule of two family teams assigned for one weekend to patrol the mountain during the evening hours. By adding a few families to the rotation, we hope to keep any one family from having to patrol more than a couple weekends per year. If you know of new families that have moved in, please encourage them to participate in the community watch as well. The more that are involved, the better it works for everyone.

The community watch schedule has been mailed to all participants who have volunteered. There is a "first" and "second" person for each weekend. After each patrol, the "second" person passes the patrol equipment to the "first" person on the next week's team. This helps remind the following team on the schedule they're up next, so the sooner this happens, the better. If you are the "first" person listed on the team, please work to get the equipment from the "second" of the preceding week. This should help keep the equipment from getting "stuck".

To keep the community watch active and effective, please observe a few basic guidelines:

• Patrol with a buddy. The buddy system is used by everyone from Boy Scouts to rescue divers for a reason. Even if your scheduled partner is not available, you can patrol with any adult, whether they are on the list or not.
• You are responsible for finding a substitute if you can't perform your scheduled watch.
• Please use flashing light and magnetic decals while you do the neighborhood watch. Being seen during patrol can be as important as what you see during patrol.
• Program the (non-emergency) telephone number for the Huntsville police department into your cell phone. (256-722-7100)
• Patrols are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays as the most "active" times. There's no reason not to go out other days, particularly when school is out (summer, Monday holidays).
• If the patrol equipment is not with the previous watch couple, please work back up the list until you find it.

Thank you for your effort in keeping a watchful eye on our neighborhood.

It cannot work without everyone's participation.

© Green Mountain Civic League
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