Neighborhood Alert allows residents of a residential block or neighborhood to collaborate on crime prevention via user-friendly digital reporting and alert systems. These tools can also be used in collaboration with home security systems to enhance home and community safety. Neighborhood watch programs also facilitate a sense of community, with captains and co-captains facilitating meetings for residents to discuss security concerns and strategies.

The most common way for a neighborhood to share information is through a phone tree. By having neighbors call each other rather than everyone being contacted, it helps keep the number of people who are aware of an incident down to a manageable level. This method of communication is not as fast as using an app, but can be a very effective tool when it comes to sharing crime related information.

In addition to the phone tree, neighborhoods can use an online map and neighborhood connections to notify residents of events taking place nearby. These tools will allow neighbors to see if someone they know is prowling near their house, or if there is smoke coming from a neighbor’s home.

Newsletters are another tool many communities use. Either in the form of a paper pamphlet or an email, these newsletters can help inform the community about what is happening around them. It is important to send these out on a regular basis — every couple of months or so, for example – because that way residents start to look forward to receiving them.