Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch
Make a difference in your neighbourhood.
Our Vision
To live in a welcoming, crime-free community where everyone knows their neighbours.
Our Mission
We assist our community to develop safer neighbourhoods through education and promotion of crime prevention strategies.
Our Values
Every resident deserves a neighbourhood free from crime. We stay informed, engaged, and active in prevention, reporting suspicious activity to the RCMP and work with like-minded community groups
85
Block Captains
765+
Neighbourhood Watch Members
The #1 crime prevention tool is knowing your neighbours!
Become a volunteer with Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch and help create safer, welcoming communities. Your involvement can make a significant impact in preventing crime and fostering connections.
Know Your Neighbour
The most powerful crime prevention tool isn’t a camera or an alarm, it’s knowing the people who live around you. When neighbours know each other, they notice when something is out of place and look out for one another’s property. The Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch encourages every resident to introduce themselves, exchange contact information, and build the simple everyday relationships that make a community safer for everyone.
- Be a responsible pet owner
- Maintain your property
- Offer to collect newspapers for neighbours who are away
- Shovel common pathways
- Take pride in your community
- Introduce yourself!
Neighbourhood Watch Guide
Neighbourhood Watch at a Glance
Neighbourhood Watch is a voluntary program that encourages residents to participate in the crime prevention process by knowing their neighbours and reporting unusual activities.
Block Captains
The Block Captain is principally responsible for overseeing a set of approximately eight homes within a Watch. Block Captains:
- Distribute information pertaining to the Neighbourhood Watch program.
- Welcome new neighbours, inform them about the program and invite them to join
- Maintain a list of members within their neighbourhood
- Report incidents of crime or attempted crime to the police
- Inform residents of break and enters or other threatening activities that have occurred in the area
NWatch Members
Watch members are the backbone of the Neighbourhood Watch program. NWatch Members focus on:
- Being a good neighbour – the kind you would like to have living next door to you
- Reporting incidents of crime or attempted crime to the police;
- Informing the Block Captain and residents of break and enters of other threatening activities that have occurred in the area
Social Community
Communicating With Members
Should you choose to communicate with your Neighbourhood Watch Members via social media, instead of by phone or email, you can:
- Use an existing Community Association or Crime Watch Page on Facebook to post messages or reports about crime
- Set up your own private Facebook Group Our Recommendation!
When to Retreat
Reporting
Trust your instincts, if it looks suspicious – don’t hesitate – call the police.
When to Call Police
When people are informed about crimes being committed in their neighbourhoods, they become more vigilant and are less likely to be victimized.
Typical criminal activities that may occur in your neighbourhood include:
- Break and entry into homes, motor vehicles, garages, and sheds
- Vandalism or destruction of property
- Public disturbances
- Fraud
- Illicit drug transactions
- Thefts of all kinds, including outdoor equipment and bicycles
One of the accomplishments of Neighbourhood Watch has been the elimination of vandalism and rowdiness within well-operated Watch areas.
How to Report a Crime or Suspicious Activity
Whether you’re calling to report a crime in progress (9-1-1) or just something that can be considered a suspicious activity (RCMP Complaint Line), remember the following:
Make the Right Call!
9-1-1
Life Threatening
Emergency
Crime in Progress
RCMP Complaint Line
403-406-2200
Suspicious Activity
Tips/Information/Reporting
Social Diversion Team
If you see someone experiencing homelessness, mental health challenges or substance abuse challenges, and they are not posing an immediate harm to themselves or others.
Reporting
Do’s
- Identify yourself as a Neighbourhood Watch member
- Be prepared to describe the persons, vehicles or circumstances as fully as possible
- Ask for an “incident” number to keep for your records
- Record the time and date of your call
- Keep the suspects and incident under surveillance from a safe distance until police arrive
- Inform your Block Captain to designate when time permits
Don’ts
- Don’t attempt apprehension or pursuit
- Don’t attempt to confirm suspicions by approaching a home or vehicle where a crime may have occurred or may still be in progress
- Go immediately to a safe distance, call 9-1-1 and wait for the police
Who to Report To
There are many resources available when dealing with suspicious or criminal activity in your neighbourhood!
Report
Report the matter to the RCMP and start a file number.
Work With Your Neighbours
Share the RCMP file number with your neighbours so they can report to the same file.
Contact The CACPC
The Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre has resources and information that is available to you!
Report to Bylaws/Compliance with ‘Report-A-Problem’
The City of Red Deer has an online tool for reporting issues such as: icy roads, animals and pets, needles, city facilities, flooding, garbage/recycling, graffiti, parking, parks, road repairs, or property complaints!
Contact SCAN
Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) is a unit of the Alberta Sheriffs Department that helps keep communities safe by dealing with problem properties that are being used for illegal activities such as: drug trafficking, prostitution, child exploitation, or gang-related crime.
Graffiti
If graffiti vandalism is on City of Red Deer property, please report it to the City of Red Deer at 403-356-8908 or through the ‘Report-A-Problem’ online tool.
If graffiti is on private property, it is the responsibility of the property owner to remove it. To report graffiti to the graffiti database visit: https://www.reddeer.ca/reportaproblem/categories/graffiti