Glenbrooke News

Let's get our ducks in a row!

by Norma Lee

Mary held a Neighborhood Watch meeting yesterday at 4 p.m. which was attended by maybe 50% of the Captains. I know, it was a weekend and some had other prior plans and could not attend. I would like to make some comments however, as to what I learned at this meeting and will have to admit that I am one of the guilty ones in some instances, but will be correcting the commitment that I made in being a Captain.

First...Who is your neighborhood block captain? If you said Mary Weatherill, you're wrong. She is our Neighborhood Watch "Coordinator."
Let me explain NW as organized in military or law enforcement structure.

Mary is the major, then there are block captains, and we are all part of the squad or team. Every member of the squad is responsible to call in (to the Police Dept.) emergencies or suspicious activity immediately using either 911 or the non-emergency number. They don't run to the captain or major.
Block captains keep the squad members informed.....you don't wait to speak to the captains to call in information.
The captains get their information from MARY and when there is an alert or information that should be shared with the squad, make and deliver such information to the squad.

Mary does an amazing amount of work. She reports and coordinates with the Elk Grove Police Dept. One person cannot do the job even if they were a full time paid staff person. Please respect that Mary is a volunteer and does so much already. If you are presently a captain and find that this is too time consuming, have lost interest...whatever the reason, please let Mary know. I'm sure she will do her best to find a replacement. Oh yea, by the way, she had a seven page flyer that she had also copied for each Block Captain, at her expense.

Now, before I get my stripes taken away...I need to get my priorities in order too. We, as Captains need to do a better job of keeping our neighbors informed and take some of the load off Mary.