Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and this is short. stuff because Jerry's here for Dave and. uh we're talking about the neighborhood. watch. So look out. >> That's right. Uh I think the the fact of. this podcast is right off the bat. >> Yep. >> Uh because if you've ever seen a. neighborhood watch like the official. neighborhood watch sign as in the uh. National Neighborhood Watch program. official organization. If you've ever. seen that sign and that that uh I was.

going to say silhouetted, but it's. really just sort of a kind of a cartoony. black figure on those orange and white. signs. It looks very much like a film. noir villain. >> Mhm. >> That guy actually kind of peering back. over his shoulder. That dude has a name. and it's Boris the Burglar. >> Yep. >> Very good. Nice little trivia uh point. >> Yeah. I think one of the things that. fascinates me about this and why I. picked this one and also thanks to Tara. Yar Legatada and Adoya Johnson. Uh the.

first from How Stuff Works, the latter. from the Howard University School of. Law. Um but like when I see signs like. that, they seem like um like a urban. archaeological find because they're from. the 70s, the very early 70s and. sometimes in an old neighborhood. And. you know, Atlanta's chalk full of old. neighborhoods. You can tell that sign. was put up in 1972. Yeah. >> And that neighborhood watch probably. hasn't functioned for 40 years, you. know. >> Um, and I just find that super. fascinating. So, because of that.

fascination, I've dragged us into the. discussion about neighborhood watch as. it is. >> That's right. Uh, which was formed. officially in 1972 after a rise in crime. in the late60s. >> Thank you, Led Gas. Uh again, the. National Neighborhood Watch Program is. the official name and that's under the. umbrella of the National Sheriff's. Association. and it's a national organization in that. they have guidelines. You can get some. information and pamphlets on kind of how. to run one in your neighborhood. Although, uh we'll see that um kind of.

depends on your neighborhood what you. want to do with this program. >> Sure. Um but they don't they don't like. there are way too many neighborhood. watch programs um you know local ones. for them to really be involved in matter. on a national level. It's just sort of. the umbrella organization. >> Yeah. Which can be a criticism as we'll. see. But the whole idea is basically you. can the cops can get an assist from. people who are kind of looking for um. problems in their neighborhood or at the.

very least are on enough lookout that. when it happens they notice it, right? They don't just walk right past it. And. then you can call the cops and then the. cops come and then the burglar Boris the. burglar is thwarted. And all of this is. kind of based on what's called the. Chicago school of social disorganization. theory. It's a sociological theory from. the 20s and the 30s which basically says. if you have a neighborhood that doesn't. have very strong social ties, so. neighbors don't really know each other. that well, they don't trust each other. that well, >> and very little community control where.

people feel very confident about just. committing crimes, that's the that's the. most vulnerable kind of neighborhood. Yeah. And so a neighborhood watch. essentially is meant to at least take. care of the second one where it's like. you, you know, we're going to make sure. you don't feel confident about. committing crime, but it doesn't. necessarily fulfill the first one, which. is to bring communities together. >> Yeah, that's right. Uh we should mention. kind of briefly that for a little while. after uh 911, uh the NSA got a grant.

from the Department of Justice where. they rebranded as USA on watch. >> Yeah. where they're like, "Hey, uh, not. only should you just be looking out for. Boris the burglar, but you should be. looking out for terrorists in your. neighborhood." Uh, but that grant ran. out and they said, "Uh, yeah, maybe we. should just stick to being a. neighborhood watch.". >> Yeah. It went from keeping an eye on. your neighborhood to spying on your. neighbors, I think, was essentially the. spirit of it. >> Yeah. It's pretty great. >> Remember this? This was the era when the. postal um workers, the mail carriers,

were expected to spy on everyone. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was a very paranoid. time. Understandably so. It was a really. rough time for the United States. >> Yeah. Some some would say there was a. privacy grab that happened. >> Oh, I hadn't thought about that. >> Or or a you know a lack of privacy grab, I guess. >> No, I get I get what you mean. An intrus. an intrusive intrusion. >> Yeah. >> Let's take a break. >> We're saying it just right. >> Yeah. Right. Let's take a break, man.

and we'll come back and talk about. whether these things actually prevent. crime in the first place. >> All right, we'll be right back. [music]. So, Chuck, the idea of a neighborhood. watch makes sense, but not everything.

that is intuitively right actually pans. out when put under scientific scrutiny. It turns out neighborhood watch programs. do hold up under scientific scrutiny. At. least one study from all the way back in. 2006, not a lot of studies about. neighborhood watch programs apparently. They found 18 other studies and 15 of. those showed that neighborhood watch. programs seem to um prevent crime. Like. the like the neighborhood watch program. came along and a decline in crime.

happened afterward. So, it does seem. like they can prevent crime. They don't. necessarily um thwart crime in progress, I guess. Yeah, I mean they will tell you. and proponents of the program will say. like, "Hey, just having that sign up in. your neighborhood is going to prevent. crime somewhat because. you know if a a near do well sees that. you're under neighborhood watch, they'll. just move on to another neighborhood.". >> Uh yeah, I don't know about that, but.

that's what they say. >> Well, it makes sense. Like especially a. a nonprofessional. who's just like, I I'm going to break. into houses, they that might give them a. second thought. So. >> even if it prevents one burglary, it's a. crime deterrent. >> Sure. Uh if you want to organize one of. these things, you can uh recruit people. and get together. You can schedule some. meetings. Um you can get some local law. enforcement in there maybe to come to. one of those meetings and kind of. discuss how these things go. Uh if. you're like a really button-down.

neighborhood watch group, you might have. an actual liaison with law enforcement. You might have a group coordinator and. block captains and stuff like that. They. might have sashes in the wellunded. neighborhood watch group. >> They might they might even have patrols. Um and this is where it can get a little. dodgy. >> Yeah. >> Uh because there have been plenty of. instances. uh in the United States where these. things have turned from sort of. neighborhood watch where you see. something and you maybe call the cops uh. to people kind of acting on their own.

vigilante style. >> Yeah. uh or people on their own calling. the cops just because uh someone is. guilty of uh you know being a person of. color in their neighborhood. That. certainly happens all the time. >> Yeah, it does. Um so you talked about a. lack of oversight and the fact that they. the national um neighborhood watch. association just doesn't they they can't. possibly keep up with them. think. there's something like uh. >> 28,000. >> neighborhood watch groups that are. registered right now and probably a lot.

of them are defunct, but there's still. that's way too many for this probably. just paper thin funded organization. um to keep up with. So they're just. like, hey, you know, they register with. us and we tell them best practices, but. if they turn into vigilante groups, we. don't know about it. It has nothing to. do with us. Some people are like, I. don't know if that's true. you're. actually encouraging the formation of. these groups in the first place. You can. make an argument that a neighborhood. would come up with their own concept of.

a neighborhood watch anyway probably. Right? >> So, it does seem like the National. Neighborhood Watch Association is. probably fairly at least not guilty. Their hands aren't dirty, I guess, is. what I'm trying to say. But even still, they're quite aware that some of these. neighborhood watch groups, whether. they're registered or not, do evolve. into vigilante groups. >> Yeah. I mean, I think nationally their. aim is pure, but uh then when you get. the wrong neighborhood and wrong group. of people, uh like happened here in the. state of Georgia, uh you might have a. neighborhood watch group targeting a.

family that they don't like being there, uh and sitting outside their house and. digging through their trash and. photographing the family and digitally. uh audio recording them and monitoring. their movements. Um that has happened uh. in Springfield, Missouri. the uh the. clan set up a neighborhood watch and had. signs saying neighborhood watch you can. sleep tonight knowing the clan is awake. Other Yeah. Other we talked about. wellunded groups too. Some of them will. use police scanners. Some of them even. have invested um those flashing dome.

lights like all a naked gun. >> Oh yeah. >> Or police squad um for their cars when. they're going to respond to a report. >> Yeah. You're not a cop. >> No. This is your neighbor who works in. it during the day and frankly drinks one. or two beers too many each night, right? >> Showing up with a flashing light at your. front door [clears throat] because your. neighbor across the street thought that. you were doing something suspicious or. somebody was doing something suspicious. at your house. Yeah, that is not okay.

under basically any circumstance. Again, like you said, the concept is pure. it. it gets perverted way too easily because. it gives power to the people who want. the power because those are the ones. very often who volunteer for this stuff. >> Yeah, for sure. Uh and you know, I. talked about different um uh crimes that. were committed. Uh, of course, the most. obvious is when George Zimmerman uh. killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black. teenager in Stanford, Florida in 2012. And Zimmerman um you know, supposedly.

was a neighborhood watch volunteer. And. uh I think their neighborhood watch was. not one of the official uh under the. national neighborhood watch. >> Uhhuh. >> At least the National Neighborhood Watch. was like, "Nuhuh. They weren't us, >> right?". >> Um but that's how far it can go. So, you. know, we want to keep our neighborhood. safe, but settle down, >> man. That was a seems like a lifetime. ago, doesn't it? >> Yeah, man. It Yeah, that's it was sort. of I mean, what 2012? How many years ago. is that? >> 13. >> Yeah. Yep. Right on the nose. Um, so.

there is uh, yeah, there's nothing. inherently wrong with keeping an eye on. your neighborhood, especially if it. helps you meet some of your neighbors. and you guys work together to prevent. people from breaking into your homes or. selling drugs on your street or. whatever. Like I I it's totally. understandable. Um, it seems like. according to the National Neighborhood. Watch Association that the the. kind of the steps that they've laid out. since 1972 are not necessarily followed.

But that doesn't mean that groups are. just not forming. They're forming in. other ways. Yeah. >> Through like um text chains like um you. know, neighborhood text threads. >> There a lot of neighborhoods have. Facebook pages. Yeah. >> Um Next Door is a big one. >> Yeah. >> Um Yeah. if you want to read some crazy. offthechain stuff like go on to Next. Door, it can be pretty entertaining. >> And then Ring, which um is that that. camera video doorbell, the first one I. think now is owned by Amazon. Uh they.

partner with law enforcement and they're. really doing their best to fill in the. gaps uh in the police state. >> Yeah. Uh, and if you're um. if you want to get one of these started. in your neighborhood and want to be on. the up and up and do it the right way, uh, you can go to that National. Neighborhood Watch website and get. officially registered. Uh, they will. have some resources to kind of guide you. along. Uh, but again, you know, do it do. it the right way. Um, it's not a crime. to just be in your neighborhood. And you. see plenty of uh you know videos every.

day on social media where uh somebody. you know sometimes someone that does. live in that neighborhood is even. accosted because they're a person of. color who dares to park in their own. driveway and walk to their own front. door. >> That has happened before. >> Yeah. >> Uh yeah, I think uh well jeez Chuck. short stuff's out on that bomber note. >> I think so. >> Okay. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from. iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio. [music] app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

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