Block Watch 2010

One thing that struck us when we took our tour of block parties a few weeks back was that a number of groups of neighbors had established neighborhood e-mail mailing lists. They were using them to share all sorts of information: local events, move-ins and outs, and suspicious activity.

In light of the frequency with which we hear complaints about petty crime around Wallingford and the police department’s lack of interest in doing anything about it, this seems like an easy and obvious response. More communication means you get to know your neighbors better and that’s going to lead to a safer neighborhood. If you have a better understanding of the usual, you’ll be more likely to notice the unusual.

It’s easy to set-up a neighborhood mailing list. Here’s one way:

• Visit groups.google.com and create a group (you’ll need a Google account, which is free and doesn’t require that you use Gmail)
• Print up an explanation of what it’s for along with instructions on joining it and drop them off up and down your street

What’s the edge of your neighborhood group? Let it grow and form organically. If you have too many people trying to join, that’s the kind of problem you like to have. Use the group to keep each other apprised of local crime as well as neighborhood barbecues and the like. Heck, as for some help getting that sofa down to the basement.

But the truth is, e-mail isn’t enough. If there’s something going on that needs quicker turnaround than e-mail (like “I think there’s someone looking in cars right now”), cell phone text messaging is a better solution. As luck would have it, in our “spare time”, we run a group text messaging service called Swaggle.mobi. Swaggle is a lot like an e-mail mailing list, except for text messages: text your message to the number, it goes to everyone in your group. When someone replies, it automatically goes back out to the whole group.

Feel free to set-up a Swaggle group for your neighborhood, as well, at Swaggle.mobi. It’s free for groups of up to 17 people, but of course, this is Wallingford, so we’re happy to extend the “Basic” and “Premium” Swaggle group status (supporting groups of up to 100 phone numbers) to any neighborhood group for free. Just set up the group and e-mail us the name, letting us know it’s a Wallingford neighborhood group, and we’ll take care of you.

Because that’s what neighbors do.