Nearly 25 blockwatch captains and West Seattleites gathered at the Southwest Precinct on Jan. 25 to celebrate the 30 year career of Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow who is set to retire on March 15 (Herald story on Kinlow can be found here) and discuss the latest in blockwatch news.

Deborah Greer and Karen Berge, co-organizers of Blockwatch Captains’ Network, delved into the Seattle Times archives to document the pioneering history of block watches in Seattle – a history Kinlow has been involved with since the early 1970s.

Kinlow explained that he started out his career as a community organizer in 1972, and then started working in crime prevention for the Seattle Police Department in 1974.

In 1974, Kinlow said he and the other crime prevention coordinators started a pilot program of setting up block watches in the safer neighborhoods of Seattle, including a few in West Seattle along with Capitol Hill and Ballard.

“We got our program down and started tackling the high crime neighborhoods for the next ten years,” Kinlow said.

Over those next ten years the rest of the nation and world began taking notice of the, at the time, revolutionary program of having neighbors watch out for each other. Kinlow said crime plummeted in neighborhoods that set up block watches.

In 1977 Kinlow said the program was nominated as an exemplary program for getting citizens involved by the United States Department of Justice. Soon after, federal money was set aside for cities from across the nation to come to Seattle and learn how to set up block watches in their own neighborhoods.

“At that time it was a very innovative and sexy type of program,” Kinlow said. “We had people from all over the world coming. Japan, Australia, quite a few from Europe and Canada, they went back with the information they got here and started their own programs.”

One of Kinlow’s favorite memories shared with the Blockwatch Network took place in 1981 in the Wallingford area. Greer posted a copy of the Seattle Times story heralding the Wallingford block watch as one of the largest crime prevention campaigns ever organized in a U.S. city and Kinlow provided the backstory.

Eight crime prevention coordinators (including Kinlow) were given six weeks to organize the entire Wallingford neighborhood and attacked the task with vigor – training, recruiting and posting flyers. At the end of the six weeks they planned a final meeting at a church in the area. They were expecting around 80 people to show up … 300 made it.

“That was a very exciting time and after Wallingford we (crime prevention coordinators) broke up and were assigned to different neighborhoods,” Kinlow said.

Kinlow said one of the best things about teaching citizens about blockwatches is they continue to propagate the idea as they move – if someone is involved in a blockwatch moves to a different neighborhood or city, chances are they will use their knowledge to set one up in their new location.

West Seattle blockwatch captains’ showed their appreciation for Kinlow, telling stories of how he helped them clean up their neighborhoods and encourage (or in some cases force) problem neighbors to move away.

In the wake of Kinlow’s retirement, it was clear that the Blockwatch Captains’ Network will move forward in strengthening and expanding West Seattle blockwatches.

Greer set three goals for 2011 including a massive group training for existing captains and anyone interested in becoming a captain in the spring, establishing bi-monthly training sessions at the Southwest Precinct for anyone interested in learning more and developing an online system for the public to find out if there is a blockwatch in their neighborhood and, if so, who to contact to get involved.

Greer also mentioned the Network, along with being on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere, now has a phone number for less tech-savvy people that have questions. That number is (206) 424-0040 and Greer said to leave a message and one of the co-organizers will return the call.

Community Police Team Officer Jon Kiehn presented the Crime Prevention Tip of the Month – car prowl prevention. Kiehn said the best prevention tactics are to park where you can see your vehicle, park where there is good light and park where there is foot traffic. He also said it is imperative to keep valuables out of your car, and if something must stay inside be sure it is well hidden.

Before the meeting adjourned and Kinlow set into hand-shaking/thank-you acceptance mode he past on a few more pieces of wisdom.

“Anytime any of you see any problems in your neighborhood know that you don’t need to live in fear, that the police department is here to aid you and correct those problems,” he said in reference to dealing with “problem houses” (drugs, excessive parties, etc) on your block.

He said in many cases problem houses are rented, not owned, and bringing up issues with the landlord is effective. He suggests sending letters to the landlord detailing problems and calling the police anytime a law is broken or there is suspicious activity, all of which gives the landlord ammunition to evict the problem tenants.

Kinlow also suggested buying a surveillance camera that will email you when it is triggered by someone in your house. He told the story of a woman who recently installed a $200 camera that emailed her and she was able to watch a live feed of burglars in her house, called 911 and police arrived in time to apprehend the suspects.

“One thing I want to encourage the blockwatch captains to do is, I think it’s great that you are providing an overall place for block captains to come and get refueled and I’d like to encourage you to keep doing that, but I don’t want you to burn out,” he said. “Be a cheerleader … work with the police department and I think you will actually grow the blockwatch program.”

“One good word is that other neighborhoods throughout the City are looking to West Seattle and they are inquiring, ‘How can we get what you guys have up here?’ So you guys are setting in motion a model that probably will spread throughout the City and throughout the nation.”

For more information on the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains' Network, visit them online at http://wsblockwatchnet.wordpress.com, call (206) 424-0040 or email at wsblockwatchnet@gmail.com.