What To Do When People Speed Through The Neighborhood: Block Talk

“Neighborhood patrols are not what they used to be,” Kaye, a Granby-East Granby (Connecticut) Patch reader, recently told us.

Kaye was responding to a recent survey in which we asked readers to suggest topics they’d like to see addressed in Block Talk, Patch’s exclusive neighborhood etiquette column, based on readers’ survey responses.

Kaye understands the problem for local police departments. Staffing levels have been declining at law enforcement agencies across the country in recent years.

A Pew Research survey found 86 percent of police officers feel their agency doesn’t have enough officers for adequate patrols. As a result, some departments have taken such steps as cancelling some daytime and nighttime patrols, reducing the hours of patrols, and cutting down on traffic tops.

That was in 2017. Staffing levels have continued to go down

So, Kaye wants to know what can be done about people who speed through neighborhoods — in some areas without fear of being caught — and endanger the people who live there?

Should local police departments contract with private security companies to take on patrol duties? That’s catching on in the United Kingdom, according to Police Chief Magazine. Some similar models exist in the United States. For example, Oakland, California, more than 600 households pay $20 a month for unarmed private security officers to patrol the neighborhood streets 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday.

Police Chief, the magazine of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said that as the trend for lower budgets and limited resources continues, leaders “must recognize the world of law enforcement is changing and then look for ways to change with it so that they can successfully provide public safety moving forward.”

What do you think about that? What else can be done? Just fill out the survey below. As always, we don’t collect email addresses.

About Block Talk

Block Talk is a regular Patch feature offering real-world advice from readers on how to resolve everyday neighborhood problems. If you have a neighborhood etiquette question or problem you’d like for us to consider, email beth.dalbey@patch.com, with Block Talk as the subject line.

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