Community Crime: Eyes Open Again

Reprinted with permission from the print edition of the Kingston Times. For more exclusive content from the Kingston Times subscribe to Ulster Publishing!

By Carrie Jones Ross

Kingston Neighborhood Watch Reboots, Finds Professional TrainingThe concept behind the adage “somebody’s always watching,” is being revisited. After a brief hiatus, the Kingston Neighborhood Watch core has decided to get back at it, only this time with a tighter focus and additional training. Roughly a month ago, the Kingston Times reported that the Watch was calling it quits due to lack of participation. As of last week, the Watch has reversed their decision.

“We are going in off in a new direction,” said Claudia D’Arcy, charter member and one of the group’s founders. Claudia and husband Mike D’Arcy founded the neighborhood watch after a woman was severely beaten and robbed in February 2010 on the Uptown corner of St. James St. and Wall Street. The D’Arcys explained that group’s “infrastructure” is complete, enabling residents to easily report crimes anonymously by downloading forms off the website, or contacting them directly. Forms are there for people to access, and the city has adopted a social media policy as well.” One such tool is SeeClickFix website on which residents can report non-emergency issue or create a watch area, even from Facebook — D’Arcy said that he handles reporting some of the crime-related issues, and other issues are sent to the ward’s alderman. The aforementioned “new direction” is to focus on their ward, and hope that it grows outward from there. Also the group is pushing its new forms found on their website, and hope that people take advantage of the information and opportunity to take a bite outta crime.

What happened? “We had reacted to the city’s need wanting a citywide neighborhood watch, so we put it all together,” said Claudia, who said the original intent was to keep the focus closer to home. The discouragement of a less-than-energetic citywide actual participation was an issue the D’Arcys needed to surmount. “The communication is there, the opportunity to take more responsibility for one’s own neighborhood is in place." Now the D’Arcys say will focus on their own zone, and hope it builds upward and outward from there by example, rather than trying to spread themselves too thin.

The recently passed City of Kingston social media policy offers hope that the city will edge its way out into the modern times to communicate more efficiently with the public — a policy for which the techno-savvy D’Arcy family pushed through the Common Council. D’Arcy said that the sheer numbers of members in his ward speak to the amount of doors he has knocked on and fliers that he has distributed.

According to the D’Arcys, 11 block stewards and eight ward stewards are still in place, and are hopeful that they will want to participate. The number of members varies, largely depending on how active the block and ward stewards are and how many walks residents witness. Ward 1 has 15 members, Ward 2 has 18, Ward 3 has 12, Ward 4 has 16, Ward 5 (the D’Arcys own ward) has 39, Ward 6 has 10, Ward 7 has 3, Ward 8 has 6 and Ward 9 has 16. The D’Arcys assume that everyone remains on board, considering that there are no resignations on record.

Additional training is coming down the pike for the D’Arcys and for any of the interested block or ward stewards from the National Sheriffs Association and from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Department. “Whoever shows up can learn how to do their job the appropriate way,” said D’Arcy. None of them were ever formally trained; they can only do they feel comfortable doing.” Claudia admitted that not offering more training for leaders was a mistake that they plan to correct.

“We are committed to making it easy for people to do the right thing when people are ready to do the right thing, once they have had enough,” Claudia added.

Retiring KPD Chief Gerald Keller said he attributes 17 indictments to the Watch’s activity. “We did make an important arrest at 181 Wall St. just prior to the unfortunate fire [in which a baby perished]. That’s a good example of the help from the Neighborhood Watch,” said Keller. “There was a complaint of drug dealing … based on information from the watch we had our street crimes unit and made an important drug arrest on Aug. 25 who was recently sentenced. The fire was August 29.”

John Rhoades, owner of Midtown’s new teen dance club The Den is a steward for both wards 7 and 8. He is a fan of door-knocking, visibility and making introductions to know neighbors — but is not a fan of the city’s division. “I don’t think social media and the Internet is the whole answer to reaching the community,” said Rhoades. “It’s a part of it, a big part of it. But getting out and meeting people face-to-face and meeting neighbors face to face is when you start to see things happen. I think when people start to see people or recognize them over and over, it creates a sense of community. They say, ‘wow.’ It creates a sense of ‘place,’ ‘where I live.’ They realize that when we become neighbors of the City of Kingston, then any change is possible. We have to meet each other and not be separated. We have to not be separated by wards, it’s all just City of Kingston.”

Trustee and charter member John Dowley says that recruiting more members will be the key to the watch’s growth, and also thinks that visibility is paramount. “One time a gangbanger comes walking out during our walk, and we handed him a flier for the watch,” he said. “He started cursing under his breath, barking all his gangland bullshit. What we did was throw a stone in his pond. Once you stand up to a bully, he’s no longer a bully. This guy backed off quietly. There’s safety in numbers.”

Dowley said that he would like to see a re-vitalization in the signage to promote a sense of pride and presence. “The old neighborhood watch signs are twisted, rusty, broken,” he said. “And then there’s the busted camera on St. James and Wall streets next to the burned-down house. It says a lot — or doesn’t.”