Neighborhood Watch

Cudos to the Broadwater Neighborhood Watch for immediate increased patrol presence in response to four home burglaries that occured in June.  A recent St Petersburg Police study revealed that most burglaries occur during the day, and that break-ins to unlocked homes increased from 885 in 2007 to 2,624 in 2008, an increase of 196%.

The Neighborhood Watch usually has three of our neighbors providing extra patrol during the morning hours some on bicycles and others walking or driving.  This extra patrol is in addition to the regular scheduled patrol for the day. Since the addition of extra patrols there have been numerous incidents of suspicious vehicles and people documented by the patrollers. Based on these reports, the patrol has prevented additional crimes from occurring in our neighborhood. Further, the mere presence of a vehicle with “Broadwater Neighborhood Watch” signs on it is a deterrent in itself, because criminals know they are being watched.

Thank you to all patrol members for providing extra patrol to help keep our neighborhood safe.  Some of our patrollers, upon returning home will drive to the end of their block to check for suspicious activity. Other Patrollers, such as Jim and Evelyn Hill will drive different routes in and out of Broadwater checking for suspicious activity during their daily activities.  A special recognition goes Martin Pyke, Gary Kalember, Craig Gatrel and John Ferguson for logging the most extra time patrolling during the month of June.

On July 22nd, 2009, a training class new patrol members of the Broadwater Neighborhood Watch Program was conducted by Officer Johnny Harris of the St Petersburg Police Department. The class was attended by 18 of our Broadwater neighbors who want to be active and make a difference in our community.  There are several new patrol members that are also new residents to Broadwater. It’s great to see they are immediately taking an active role in our community. The new patrol members are: 

Frank & Jamie Vander Horst, Alexis Bond, Dave Sanders, Georgia Carroll, Jeronimo Alonso, Vicki Linkovich, Carol Parham, Patricia Kent, Art Buccino, Russ Miles, Valerie Rice, Kip & Mindy Kedersha, Mary Lou Williamson, Angie Dolan, and Ken & Valerie Balkovic.

The next time you see one of our new patrol members; please take the time and thank them for helping keep our Broadwater Neighborhood safe. Together, we can make a difference in our neighborhood.

Broadwater Neighborhood Watch Training Class

We are all concerned about the possibility of increased crime in our neighborhood. Being proactive in our Broadwater community and helping with our Broadwater Neighborhood Watch Program is one of the best ways you can help deter future incidents from occurring.

A quick training session will be held for you and other concerned Broadwater neighbors, by our St Petersburg Police Department. The training class is only one evening, approximately 2 hours. It is very much a general introduction and information on how and what to do. It’s very basic and not difficult.

After completing the training class, most people involved in the program simply devote one assigned day (about 1 hour) a month to patrol the Broadwater neighborhood at a time that is convenient for you. 

Broadwater Neighborhood Watch Training Class

Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Maximo Resource Center 4815 34th Street South (near Beef O’Bradys)

Please RSVP by December 31st

Now is the time to sign up and make a difference in our Broadwater neighborhood. With your help we can make our Neighborhood Watch program work even more effectively. 
If you have any questions please email or call me at:
Email: Seefeldt@TampaBay.rr.com | Phone: 727-421-1201   

Thank you for helping make Broadwater a better place!

Bike Patrol Presence:

You may have noticed the yellow signs on some of the bicycles riding by your house. Your Broadwater Neighborhood Watch recently added a bike patrol. It’s a great way to get exercise and meet your Broadwater neighbors and at the same time help deter crime in our neighborhood by increasing our presence and visibility.

Water Patrol Presence:

The Broadwater Neighborhood Watch has established a Marine Patrol with the help of Maximo Marine and Broadwater resident Frank Vander Horst. Maximo Marine has graciously donated a boat for patrollers to monitor our canals on a regular basis.  Several existing street patrollers have volunteered to patrol and an orientation has been held to issue patrol guidelines.  Frank has been doing patrols already and has made the following observations:

1. Some homes have dense foliage in the back yard, and while nice for privacy, it also gives privacy to someone breaking in so keep your home visible from the water.
2. Homeowners are encouraged to put their house number somewhere on their dock/seawall
3. Many small boats, kayaks, dock boxes, etc. appear to be unlocked and available for anyone to come up in a boat and take them or their contents. Please secure anything you do not want stolen and lock your boat compartments
4. Homes that are vacant are much more obvious from the water than from the street
5. There are many boats that have not moved in a long time, and based on their rigging or lack of power, they are not moving anytime soon.  These boats are for the most part, not "storm ready".  If we have a bad storm, we don't need these boats to become floating missiles.  This includes boats on lifts as many of the boats on lifts have no lines attached

We ask residents to keep track of the time they see unwanted activity on the water and report it to Ted Seefeldt at 421-1201 or Seefeldt@TampaBay.rr.com   This will guide us towards the right time to perform marine patrols.

The Broadwater Neighborhood Watch was the first step implemented in our Neighborhood Plan.  The Neighborhood Watch consists of volunteers who patrol Broadwater on their assigned day at a time that is convenient for them.  Patrollers are asked to observe and report anything suspicious and also report any obvious hazards and street light outages. 

Recently, Ted Seefeldt assumed the Broadwater Neighborhood Watch Coordinator position from Barry Noden, so if you want to become active in helping the Neighborhood Watch you can contact Ted at 727-421-1201 or Seefeldt@TampaBay.rr.com. 

We thank Barry for his many years of coordinating this important element of our Neighborhood Plan and wish him the best of luck in his new neighborhood.  The next time you see any of our Neighborhood Watch volunteers, please take the time and thank them for helping keep our Broadwater Neighborhood safe. Together, we as a neighborhood community can make a difference.