Recap of Neighborhood Watch Meeting

An informative Neighborhood Watch Meeting was held Thursday night at Sharon Elementary School. Approximately 75 people from 8 different nearby neighborhoods were in attendance, along with Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman, various elected officials (including Mark Banks and Tom Kirby) and members of the local media.

Sheriff Chapman opened the meeting with a few remarks about Walton County and safety concerns in our area and said, "You have to be vigilant to keep your community the way you want it." Sheriff Chapman said that the biggest crime in Walton County is identity theft.

He also said that the WCSO offers a firearms training/safety course and has an outdoor gun range for residents to use. The fee is $25 and there is a lengthy wait at the moment from various groups who have already signed up and are on a waiting list.

WCSO Captain Darren Vinson heads up the Neighborhood Watch Programs in Walton County and he handed out an informative booklet and assigned neighborhood block captains and a coordinator for each subdivision present. Capt. Vinson will gather information from each subdivision, along with calls made to the WCSO (and 911) and reports from deputies who patrol each respective subdivision and email or text them to the block captains/coordinators. Information will be shared often from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Captain Vinson also said that by calling the WCSO, you can sign up for the House Watch program where deputies will patrol your home/neighborhood when you are out of town and keep an extra eye out on your home/subdivision.

Other helpful tips shared:

• Test your home security system once each month to make sure everything works correctly (and to avoid being charged a fee for excessive false alarm calls).
• Record your valuables by keeping a log of every serial number, taking pictures of valuables and putting special marking on items.

Zone 6 Crime Statistics from January 2013