National Neighborhood Watch

A Division of the National Sheriffs' Association

Crime prevention through neighborhood cohesiveness and collaboration.

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Self-Paced Training

These self-paced learning curriculums have been designed to build the individual skills of the law enforcer, public service officer or Neighborhood Watch program leaders. Each self paced curriculum is narrated and has a participant’s workbook where you will complete activities. Once the training has been completed you can refer to your workbook and use it as a quick reference guide if necessary.

  • Volunteer Management
    • Participants will learn the basics of volunteer management and leadership including recruitment, interviews and placement, motivation, leadership and team building and evaluation and retention. This course also features a wealth of information on recruitment and selection of volunteers and the various types of leadership styles and roles that comprise Neighborhood Watch.
  • Strategic Planning
    • Strategic Planning focuses on the key elements of developing a strategic plan for both the leader and each one of their Neighborhood Watch groups. It is important that law enforcers and/or the leaders are familiar with strategic planning and that they develop and utilize their own strategic plans when managing one or more Neighborhood Watch programs. In this course law enforcers will learn the process of strategic planning, how to conduct neighborhood assessments and prioritize initiatives and how to build realistic and actionable plans.
  • Partnerships
    • In Forming Successful Partnerships participants will learn skills that they can utilize to reach out to other civic, social and service organizations in an effort to expand their partnership activities. Participants will also learn about Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and when such documents may be appropriate or necessary. In the final section of this training potential partners are named that local Neighborhood Watch groups may want to join forces with on specific projects.
  • Planning and Conducting Effective Meetings
    • This course provides instruction on a wide range of topics relating specifically to the planning and conducting of meetings. Participants will develop skills in: arranging meeting logistics, developing agendas, facilitating the meeting, managing disagreements and post meeting follow-up activities.
  • Observation Skills
    • Observation Skills teaches participants how to instruct citizens on various aspects of observation such as what to observe, how to observe it, and observation specifics concerning both individuals and the surroundings. For years Neighborhood Watch volunteers have been referred to as the extra “eyes and ears” of the police so knowing and using proper observation skills is essential for all Neighborhood Watch programs.
  • Reporting Suspicious Activities
    • Reporting Suspicious Activities presents information on how to properly report as well as what to report and when. All too often citizens are confused about what they should report and why. In this course participants will receive in-depth instruction on a variety of reporting activities. After reviewing this course participants will be able to advise citizens specifically on the appropriate who, what, why and how of reporting.
  • Target Hardening
    • In this class participants learn a specific methodology on how to evaluate homes for security and general information on how to work with the public to make our neighborhoods more safe and secure. From evaluating locks to assessing alarms participants will receive a wealth of information on home security that they will be able to present to other Neighborhood Watch leaders and volunteers.