PARTY WITH PURPOSE: HELP THY NEIGHBOR
VALLEYWIDE EVENTS DESIGNED FOR UNITY, TO DETER CRIMINALS
Byline: By Chris Moeser, THE PHOENIX GAZETTE
National Night Out is billed as a way for people to take a bite out of crime.
It's really an excuse for a party.
Organizers expect more than 20,000 people to participate in parades, block parties and ice cream socials in neighborhoods throughout the Valley. The event takes place from 4 to 10 tonight.
Organizers say block parties, which are a way of life in East Coast cities, may be a key to cutting neighborhood crime in Valley cities. The better you know your neighbor, the easier it is to detect whether something is wrong at your neighbor's house, they say.
''The biggest thing we want to happen is for people to get out of their houses and meet their neighbors,'' said Phoenix Chairwoman Cynthia Schwartz. ''You feel more secure by knowing your neighbors.''
Richard Fox, president of Phoenix Block Watch, said he hopes the event will spawn Block Watches throughout the Valley.
''The philosophy of Block Watch is building networks,'' Fox said.
''It's a lot easier to be mad at your neighbor if they have a barking dog if you don't know them,'' Fox said. ''People want the police to solve their problems. Block Watch is an attempt to teach people to take care of themselves.''
Prevention is the key to reducing crime in Phoenix, Fox said.
About 90 percent of crime in Phoenix is property-related, according to Block Watch statistics. Many of those crimes could be prevented if more communication existed among neighbors.
Just ask Elizabeth Cruz, organizer of the Greenfield Neighborhood's Night Out.
She recently watched thieves steal a burglar alarm from a house next door that had burned down. She thought the men were working on the house.
Another home on Cruz's street was victimized when burglars posed as movers and stole everything. No one on the street realized the owners of the home were not moving.
Those thefts could have been prevented if more cooperation existed among the neighbors, Cruz said.
That's the goal of National Night Out.
''This way we can look out for each other,'' Cruz said.