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3rd Annual Manchester Neighborhood Blockwatch Meeting

You're invited to attend the Third Annual Manchester-Wide Blockwatch Meeting at 7:00 PM on Wednesday September 8th at the Manchester Library. Blockwatch is the community-based crime prevention technique that is used throughout the country. All Manchester residents are invited to attend to meet your neighbors and learn more about blockwatch. Bud Larsen's Manchester Central blockwatch, Kit Cook's Manchester North blockwatch, and Joe & Carol Kowalski's Manchester South blockwatch are hosting the meeting. We welcome all others who are interested in blockwatch and minimizing crime in our neighborhoods!

Our guest speakers will be discussing crime prevention, safety, and Manchester related issues. This will be a great opportunity to exchange ideas and learn more about crime prevention in Manchester. Light refreshments will also be served!

If you have any questions beforehand, contact Bud Larsen at 769-8793. Also, anytime, our Community Resource Officer, Deputy Pete Ball, is available to answer your questions.

We hope to see you on the 8th of September!!!

March Blockwatch Minutes are here!

Report: Manchester-wide Blockwatch meeting July 24, 2003

Our second annual Manchester-wide Blockwatch meeting was held in the Manchester Library on July 24th. Attending were members of each of the existing Blockwatch areas and several from outside the established Blockwatches. While attendance wasn't as good as last year, the group was enthusiastic and left the meeting better informed.

Manchester South Blockwatch Captain, Bud Larsen, welcomed the group and went over the basics of Blockwatch (for more information see the section on Blockwatch Member Duties and Responsibilities. The three existing areas have strong leadership and are active. The Central and South areas issued a newsletter to their members along with new Blockwatch maps in early July. Bud solicited interest from others in creating new Blockwatches and is willing to help (call him at 769-8793).

Our guest speaker was Laura Jull of Kitsap Department of Emergency Management. Laura explained the K-PREP (Kitsap-Practices responsible Emergency Preparedness) program and how we can be better prepared to handle any type of emergency or natural disaster. Much of what Laura discussed focused around earthquake preparedness and response once such a disaster has struck. Did you know that we have experienced four measurable earthquakes in the last three months in the Manchester area?!

Key points in dealing with an earthquake:

1. Identify Drop/Cover/Hold locations in every room in your house.
2. You need to be more concerned about flying objects than buildings collapsing.
3. Develop a family reunion plan (she handed out Emergency Information Wallet Cards that you can fill-in with critical information and phone numbers.
4. Prepare an emergency kit with 3 days of water, food and emergency items.
5. Consider using "quake wax" to secure collectables displayed on shelves,it's available at home improvement centers (Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.)
6. Neighbors need to help neighbors in such emergencies.
7. Form a K-PREP team, similar to a Blockwatch, to be best prepared to handle all aspects of natural disasters which could leave you on your own for up to 3 days.
8. For more information, go to www.kitsapdem.org and you may want to visit them to get a copy of "Personal and Neighborhood Preparedness Workbook". If you had been at our meeting, you'd already have one of these!

Next on the Agenda, John Winslow spoke about efforts between the Central Blockwatch and the Sheriff's office to consider the possibility of having a Sheriff¹s "layover-station" located in Manchester. The goal is to provide more community interaction with the Sheriff, and visibility of the sheriff in our community. Discussions are at the very basic stages now, but the Sheriff has been very responsive and professional. We'll keep you posted on how this proceeds.

Corporal Bob Millard, the officer responsible for coordination of Sheriff's Deputies in the Manchester area was introduced and told us a little bit about his responsibilities for monitoring activities in our area. In discussions about general criminal activity in the Manchester area, we learned that there have been a number of thefts of outboard motors from boats on private property. Chains and locks don¹t seem to be enough to discourage these bold criminals, so take extra measures to secure your property!

Last on the agenda was a presentation by the DataDot people on their system for marking your valuables with micro-dots containing identifying information, so if your valuables are recovered, they can be identified. This system is even used for tagging major parts on cars. For more information on Data-Dot, go to www.datadotusa.com. For your home items, the Sheriff and Bud Larsen also offer use of electric engravers for adding your Washington State drivers' license number to valuables. Such marking of valuables is an effective tool for the Sheriff to catch thieves in possession of stolen goods, and for returning them to their rightful owners. It was even suggested that outboard motors be engraved, since many of them have serial numbers that are attached by an easily removed tag!

If you have any other questions about Blockwatch in Manchester contact Bud Larsen 769-8793, John Winslow 871-7115, or our Community Crime Resource Officer, Pete Ball at 337-7074.