Group’s neighborhood watch program is a success in Merced

Merced police are praising one group of neighbors as an example of the right way to conduct a neighborhood watch program.

Rivera Mobile Estates, a mobile home park of roughly 400 residents, plans to celebrate its effort to rid the neighborhood of drugs and other crimes with a block party this weekend.

Les Faulkner has lived in the neighborhood for about four years. He said he had dealt with theft in the area, but a confrontation last year led him to talk to his neighbors, who came together to push their neighborhood watch program.

The 60-year-old said a man pulled a gun on him in front of his home. “We started a thing called Safe Streets and it helped us with the problem that we were having,” he said.

Merced city employees and police helped Faulkner understand how to get the watch group up and running, he said.

The group worked closely with Lt. Andre Matthews, who said the Police Department’s Operation Safe Streets Program could be a useful tool to others in Merced.

The program guides residents through using the civil court process to work with property owners to eliminate criminal activity and clean up nuisance properties in neighborhoods, he said. It can be used by residents to push a landlord to clean up an apartment complex, or by neighbors who believe one home on their block is the root of their problems.

Judy Price, the property manager for the mobile home park, said she was able to team with residents to make improvements around the neighborhood. She said she hired security and added barbed-wire fencing, as well as other upgrades.

Price said she believes the watch could work in other neighborhoods if they just gather a few committed neighbors willing to use the court system and be patient. “There is a process to an eviction,” she said. “It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Faulkner said people in the neighborhood are again able to walk the streets at night. He said he believes if his neighborhood can do it, it’s possible anywhere else in town. “It’s possible,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to step up. Get together with your neighbors.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2014 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Group’s neighborhood watch program is a success in Merced."