City of Fresno relaunching its Neighborhood Watch program
The local nonprofit Fresno Police and Neighborhood Watch (FNPW) has a long history of supporting public safety in the Fresno area.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno's Neighborhood Watch Program will be back in full force throughout the city.
This comes after $300,000 was set aside in this fiscal years' city budget.
Council President Nelson Esparza says a safer community is a top priority.
"We've had record revenues and record size budgets here in the last several years, it's provided us a tremendous opportunity to look at what some of those additional needs are throughout the city," Esparza says.
The funding will amplify the efforts of the local nonprofit Fresno Police and Neighborhood Watch (FNPW).
It's an organization with a long history of supporting public safety in the Fresno area.
But it's been inactive for years.
The new president, Mary Haskin, is stepping up to lead the efforts.
"We need to collectively as a society, take personal responsibility and stop waiting for someone else to do it and we need to pick up the torch and make a difference ourselves," says Haskin.
As a key partner to the City of Fresno, FPNW will hold new educational watch meetings every month in each district.
They will host four crime prevention workshops and publish monthly e-newsletters to improve communication.
Chief Paco Balderrama says this is a great partnership with his department.
"Every good police chief in America knows that community involvement is the key to raising the quality of life and improving safety," says Balderrama.
Mayor Jerry Dyer is also on board with the effort, saying Fresno residents deserve to feel safe, so it's important the community looks out for one another.
"We cannot rely on the police department in total to keep people safe and protect property. It requires each and every one of us to look for each other and to look out for each other's property."
On Thursday, the Fresno City Council will vote to approve the agreement to disburse those funds.
And on September 21st, there will be Neighborhood Night Out in your community.
If you are looking to start a Neighborhood Watch or need resources for an existing watch group, click here.
