Most residential crimes occur because the opportunity to commit them exists.

Opportunity is divided into two categories:

1) The opportunity created by the victim through carelessness, lack of attention to security and lack of cooperation with his neighborhood and business colleagues.

2) The opportunity created by the criminal, by his skill, ruthlessness and daring. This describes the professional criminal. Law enforcement believes that only a small minority of crimes are resultant from professional criminal activity; the bulk of crime involves amateur criminals, and the results can be up to you.

We need block captains to disseminate information to residents and to show their neighbors how to report suspicious activity, how to maintain a cooperative system of helping neighbors with home security and safety, help the elderly and children to protect themselves against victimization by criminals, and to encourage citizens to come forward as witnesses.

We, in Rancho Bernardo, have a fine Neighborhood Watch program, but can we do more? Every one of our seven districts (District A is Westwood, B is Eastview, C is Oaks North, D is Swim & Tennis, E is Seven Oaks, F is Bernardo Heights, G is High Country West) has or should have District Coordinators. We are missing Westwood, Eastview, and Seven Oaks. We need interested people to come forward. We guarantee a friendly and concerned group.

These district coordinators for Neighborhood Watch and Emergency Preparedness form a Board of Advisors which meets with the RB Neighborhood Watch Coordinator, Jacquie Nelson; the Emergency Preparedness Director, Jim Harmon; Technical coordinators, Roger Wolfe and Fritz Wolff; Public Relations, Gary Carlson; Crime Statistics, Hal St. Clair and Ralph Stewart; It meets quarterly to plan future Seminars, new database techniques, new mapmaking capabilities and uses, new training for Emergency Preparedness teams, as well as new directions for the organization. Fundraising is always a prime concern. Our funding is only through public donations.

This Board of Advisors is committed to helping the Rancho Bernardo community maintain a high degree of safety and security knowledge through publication of its monthly Neighborhood Watch eNEWSLETTER, through press releases to the newspapers, the weekly RB Community Watch in the RB Journal, the Community Centers’ newsletters, and on the website www.rbernardo.com/

The Neighborhood Watch office at the Police Storefront 2^nd floor at the library is outfitted with computers and district maps, publications, brochures, videos, individual maps of all RB districts and blocks with addresses for the use of Block Captains and coordinators. If you are interested in becoming a block captain or assistant block captain, or want to join an emergency preparedness team, please call us at 538-8148.

We need help, also, with xeroxing, mailing and telephoning on an occasional basis. Please call if you can spend 3-4 hours a month either at the Storefront or in your home.