2009 First Quarter Neighborhood Watch Meeting

February 2, 2009

The meeting was very well attended with 17 block captains present.  Attendees were advised to be vigilant in their efforts to protect themselves from identity theft crimes which are on the rise.  The two new Village bicycle ordinances were also reviewed.  The steps being taken to update the Neighborhood Watch program as well as the block captain recruiting drive were also discussed.  The duties and responsibilities of block captains were reviewed.  The correlation between economic recessions and increased criminal activity was also a topic.  The following three articles were distributed attendees:

The article titled "The Economics of Crime" raises the point that crime rates tend to go up during hard economic times.  Richard Rosenfeld, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and president elect of the American Society of Criminology, draws a correlation between decreasing consumer confidence and increasing crime rates.  Rosenfeld points out that the local response to crime, including modern policing techniques, can make a difference during these difficult times.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/20/opinion/oe-rosenfeld20

The article titled "Recession Draws Amateurs to Crime" humorously discusses how some first time criminals are turning to crime with little success.  While the anecdotes are funny, they do illustrate the lengths some people are willing to go to during times of recession.
 http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/39579

The article titled "Making Sense of Crime During a Recession Isn't So Clear-Cut" alludes to the fact that there are several contributing factors to rising crime rates.  The article points out the crime rates across the United States have risen during every recession since the 1950's. 
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/dec/03/local/chi-crime-statistics-column-03-dec03