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Neighborhood, Business and Worship Watches
Resident Neighborhood Watch
The Neighborhood Watch program involves groups of people living in the same area who want to make their neighborhood safer by working together and in conjunction with local law enforcement to reduce crime and improve their quality of life. At Neighborhood Watch meetings, participants are taught basic crime prevention concepts that reduce crime opportunities in their neighborhood. Focusing on safety concerns and neighborhood alerts from the police department, these meetings facilitate person-to-person engagement with fellow residents. Neighborhood watch members are not police officers and do not apprehend criminals. Instead, members are taught whom to call to report suspicious activities and how to file reports of a non-emergency nature. For questions, contact Neighborhood Watch Coordinator at 804-318-8699.
Neighborhood Watch Is and Is Not
Neighborhood Watch is:
- Residents trained to recognize suspicious or criminal activities
- Residents reporting criminal or suspicious activities to the police
- Residents keeping informed about activities in their neighborhood
- Residents watching for suspicious, criminal or dangerous activities in their neighborhoods
- Residents providing valuable information to police to help them investigate suspicious activities
- Residents assisting the police in preventing crime
Neighborhood Watch is not:
- A group of vigilantes or people taking the law into their own hands
- A program that takes the place of the police
- Residents enforcing the law or apprehending criminals
Starting Neighborhood Watch
Want to start a Neighborhood Watch? Read about starting your neighborhood watch (PDF) and follow these steps:
- Meet with your neighbors to share concerns about crime and other issues in your area.
- Designate a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator.
- The coordinator should have 60% of the residents sign a petition to demonstrate their support. Visiting neighbors and going door to door is a great way to recruit members. Involve everyone: young and old, homeowners, renters, and businesses.
- Contact Police Community Engagement at 804-318-8699.
- Schedule your start-up meeting at a location of your choosing, such as a home, library, church or school. The Neighborhood Watch Coordinating Officer will introduce the Neighborhood Watch program to your participants and answer any questions.
Maintaining Neighborhood Watch
Neighborhood Watch community members work together with the Police department to help detect, prevent and reduce crime by scheduling training, inviting speakers to highlight current events, and raise awareness and recognition of suspicious or potential criminal activity. Members may share Police communications with neighbors via email, meetings, or working with HOAs.
Neighborhood Watch also assist Police by keeping up to date with police notifications, reporting suspicious events, and other observations providing valuable information to help with investigations and apprehension of criminals.
National Night Out is supported by our Neighborhood Watch sponsors. National Night Out further encourages community involvement by providing opportunities for members to familiarize themselves with each other.
Calls for Service
A call for service is a call from the public requesting police, fire, or rescue emergency or non-emergency response.
Calls for Service Report - Communities with Neighborhood Watch Programs
Updated monthly, the calls for service in communities with Neighborhood Watch programs (PDF) provides public access to view calls for service data pertaining to police responses within a county neighborhood having an active neighborhood watch program. This report contains only calls for service assigned to police units where one or more Chesterfield County Police employees responded to evaluate or take action, or an event that came to the attention of police or is initiated by police that required formal documentation (e.g., case report, supplemental report or accident report). Examples include calls regarding reporting a burglary, neighbor problem or suspicious activity, ringing alarm bell, shooting, or traffic accident with injuries; detectives making an arrest; officers finding a stolen vehicle; or officers searching out and arresting a fugitive.
All calls for service receive a unique call number which serves as the incident identifier for Police reference. Upon investigation, some calls for service are called crimes and are classified as incidents for the purpose of reporting to the Virginia State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Not all police contacts with the public are calls for service, and not all calls for service are crimes.
Not all calls for services are included, as certain types of calls are excluded from public disclosure including mental health, overdose, rape, search warrant, sex offense, suicide, terrorist incident and vehicle repossession.
Privacy and Data
To address issues of privacy, no name information is displayed. Similarly, each individual listing displays the call address only to the nearest hundred block. For example, if a call for service originated at 10031 Iron Bridge Road this report would display the location as 10000 Iron Bridge Road. Because this data is preliminary and may change upon investigation, the Chesterfield County Police Department gives no guarantee as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or correct sequencing of the information. Additionally, since the information is evolving, it cannot be used for comparisons over time. The Chesterfield County Police Department is not responsible for any error or omission, or for the use of, or the results obtained from the use of this information.
Dispositions
The existence of a record of a call for service to any address may not necessarily be indicative of any violation of law. Often times Police are dispatched to an address for reasons unrelated to unlawful conduct. Additionally, you should not draw a negative inference simply because a disposition may be listed as "offense report" or "arrest made." It is possible that these dispositions were unrelated to the initial call and may have resulted from completely independent circumstances not involving the situation. We caution you to keep this in mind when considering call to service information.
The status of a call for service falls into one or more of the following categories. The County Emergency Communications Center's Computer Aided Dispatch system accepts up to five dispositions for each call for service. For brevity's sake, only the first two dispositions are listed on these reports. The categories include:
- Accident Report - A written accident report (FR-300) was completed and filed with the Police Department and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
- Advice Given - Responding officer provided guidance or advice to a citizen.
- Arrest Made - An individual was taken into custody for a violation or crime. The arrest may or may not have been related to the initial call for service.
- Assist Made - Responding officer provided assistance to another responding officer.
- Canceled - The call for service is canceled prior to arrival of the responding officer.
- Clear on Arrival - Responding officer did not encounter the conditions described by the caller. For example, caller reported a disabled vehicle at a location and the officer responding to the location did not find the vehicle.
- Information Received - Responding officer received information from a citizen.
- No Report - An officer responded to the call but no written report was filed.
- Offense Report - A written report was filed in the Police Department's Records Management System that includes all data associated with the call.
- Other Report - An administrative report such as an animal impoundment was filed.
- Summons Issued - An individual was issued a summons for a violation or crime. The summons may or may not have been related to the initial call for service.
- Supplemental Report - Additional information pertaining to an offense report was written and filed within the Police Department's Records Management System.
- Towed Vehicle - A vehicle, either disabled or administratively seized for a violation of law, is towed from the scene.
- Unable to Locate - Responding officer was unable to find the caller.
- Unfounded - The circumstances described by the caller did not occur. For example, a caller reported hearing shots fired and the responding officer discovered a car backfiring.
- Warrant Advised - An officer advised a citizen to seek a warrant from a magistrate for a misdemeanor crime that did not occur in the presence of the officer.
- Warrant Obtained - A responding officer obtained a warrant for an individual or individuals who has violated a law but was not taken into custody.
Business and Worship Watches
In addition to the Neighborhood Watch, both businesses and places of worship have opportunities to participate in watch programs.
Business Watch
Businesses can join the Business Watch program to stay up to date on crime trends, crime prevention techniques and unique training opportunities. Members receive email crime alerts and prevention tips. Alerts are sent based on crime specificity or the type of businesses being targeted. Beneficial suspect information may be provided.
To join, email our Business Watch Coordinator the following information:
- Business Name
- Business Owner/Manager
- Business Address (Physical Location)
- Business Email
- Business Telephone Number
Request a Business Safety Training Presentation
Chesterfield Police offer educational safety trainings that are available to all businesses in Chesterfield County. To join or request a program, contact the Business Watch Coordinator by email or call 804-318-8699. Current trainings offered include:
- Active Shooter Incidents
- Personal Safety
- Robbery Training
- Security Assessments
- Workplace Violence
Worship Watch
Faith-based organizations are encouraged to join this program to receive information regarding crime prevention strategies for places of worship. Training is available for staff, volunteers and members. Members receive our monthly crime prevention newsletter which contains useful information and announcements. Crime alerts for incidents that are related to places of worship are also sent to members.
To join, email our Worship Watch Coordinator the following information:
- Organization name
- Mailing address
- Physical address (if different)
- Contact person and title
- Email address
- Telephone number
Request a Worship Safety Training Presentation
Chesterfield Police offer educational safety trainings that are available to all places of worship in Chesterfield County. To join or request a program, contact the Worship Watch Coordinator by email or call 804-318-8699. Current trainings offered include:
- Active Shooter/Critical Incidents
- Worship Safety
- Security Assessments
- Customized Staff Training