National Night Out: Building Community in Your Association Melissa Musser


Managers and board members are often faced with the same question, “What can we do about the increase in crime in our association?” Whether there has been an increase, or with the invent of social media, we just hear more about each incident in real time, the perception is that something needs to be done to insulate owners from nuisances, car prowls, mail theft and other low level, yet upsetting incidents in our communities. One of the worst things a board and its management team can do is to turn a blind eye with the thought, “It won’t happen to us.”


Conversations with local police and their Community Resource Officers about this issue usually produce the same outcome: More owners need to get to know their neighbors, increase their mindfulness and become cognizant of their surroundings. In addition, I am told over and over again, “Police are here to assist neighborhoods in working to identify crime problems and finding solutions for those problems.” The easiest and most inexpensive program an HOA can implement


22 Community Associations Journal | July/August 2018


is a neighborhood watch program. However, the roll out of a successful program requires activism of the residents and a large pool of members willing to keep trained eyes out for unusual or suspicious activity in their area.


So where is the leadership team of an association of uninvolved owners supposed to start? Small steps toward a formal program takes time and the involvement of many people. Kicking off and hosting a National Night Out event on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 is one way to start. National Night Out is an annual community building campaign promoting police- community partnerships. Since 1984, over 16,000 communities across the United States have participated in National Night Out activities on the first Tuesday of August. About National Night Out, former Vice President Joe Biden said, “It is a chance to bring neighborhoods together with the men and women who protect them.” National Night Out is the unique program that helps to build relationships with neighbors and create safer neighborhoods.


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