Community group seeks to curtail crime, delinquency in Anthem
Neighborhood Watch program underway
by Jennifer Krahe

ANTHEM – “Anthem Neighborhood Watch is neighbors looking out for each other,” explained Charlie Anson on Friday. Under the direction of Anson, an Anthem resident, the nascent group met for the first time on May 18. Representatives from the Phoenix Police Department, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Anthem Posse were in attendance and each spoke to the group about safety, crime prevention and working together as a community.

“The general theme was that we’ve got to get the citizens involved,” Anson said. “And yes crime is around, but we want to do whatever we can do to prevent it.” He wants to make sure that the quality of life remains, as he put it, “enjoyable and safe” in Anthem. 

Neighborhood Watch programs stress using the senses–your eyes, ears and nose–to detect suspicious activities, whether they are criminal or could potentially become criminal,” Anson said. The key is to alert the correct authorities. But as Anson stresses: “You report it. You don’t act on it.” 

The group handed out what Anson calls a “cheat sheet” of the do’s and don’ts of Neighborhood Watch. Each resident in attendance also received a small card on which was printed the phone number for the Phoenix Police Department and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. A Neighborhood Watch flier, created by the Anthem group and handed out at the meeting, stated that the group is “not a vigilante force working outside the normal procedures of the local police department, sheriff’s office or posse.” To the contrary, the community group is counting on cooperation with law enforcement, as Anthem east of I‑17 lies in Maricopa County, while the portion west of I‑17 is within the city of Phoenix.

“If you’re in Phoenix, you call Phoenix PD.  If you’re in Maricopa County, you call MCSO,” Anson said. “People appreciated that fact–that we want to cover everyone.” 

Of great concern to the group is the behavior of children and teenagers in Anthem.  In conversation at the meeting, much of the responsibility for juvenile delinquency was placed on parents and the examples they set. “The parents have to take the attitude described by that old phrase, ‘Do you know where your children are?’ And this goes 24‑7,” Anson remarked.

“Certain parents are violating laws,” Anson pointed out, and he went on to list several such violations. “Parents are giving children under 18 years of age cigarettes,” he said. “Parents are giving children under 21 years of age alcohol. And parents are unknowingly having their children taking their (parents’) prescription medication, and who knows what parents are doing when it comes to hard drugs? This is something that we all have to be aware of. Parents have to learn to say no.”

Another issue, according to both Neighborhood Watch and other residents, is keeping Anthem kids busy. In other words, when they get into their teenage years, does the community have enough activities available to keep them occupied? Attendees expressed fear of the opportunity for gang activity, drugs and other illegal behavior brought about by boredom.

Of key importantance to the success of a Neighborhood Watch program is residents knowing their neighbors.

“Get to know your neighbors, their routines, their cars, et cetera, so that you can spot what is out of place,” Anson advises. “We have found in certain cases that people didn’t even know who lived next door or across the street from them.”

Although the group’s handout points out that a Neighborhood Watch program “is not a 100% guarantee that crime will not occur in the neighborhood,” it is a program “intended to reduce residents’ chances of being victimized.” It teaches participants “how to make their homes more secure, to properly identify their property, and how to look out for each other.”

The idea for a Neighborhood Watch came to Anson after attending a workshop at the Anthem Legacy Leadership Institute for Community Development. “I just started to see things that were annoying me–activities that were taking place that shouldn’t have been taking place,” he commented.

Of the May 18 meeting’s success, Anson said: “We had people standing. We want to keep it up.”

For more information or to get involved with Anthem Neighborhood Watch, residents can go to www.ouranthemaz.net or e‑mail anthemazvolunteers@yahoo.com.

Reach the reporter at jennifer@thedesertadvocate.com.