Block captains needed for RB Neighborhood Watch

Rancho Bernardo Neighborhood Watch is being revamped, a move that began a few weeks prior to a home invasion in Westwood earlier this month, according to officials.

Valerie Brown, the volunteer group’s board secretary, said a core group has been working with San Diego Police to revitalize the program that most recently had an online emphasis.

“Not everybody is online,” Brown said. “What (we’re looking for) is a way to be successful and get good information out.”

Part of the overhaul includes restructuring the all-volunteer program that is designed to help deter crime and disseminate safety information within the community. She said it was decided that a large leadership team and the previous structural hierarchy is not needed.

Instead, the focus will primarily be on recruiting block captains. Brown said some captains might only have the handful of homes within their cul-de-sac assigned to them, or only the eight to 10 condo or apartment units within their building or on their floor. Others with the time to take on a bit more responsibility might take all the homes within a couple blocks, or long streets could have their homes shared among two block captains, each taking one side.

“They can commit to doing the job, with as much or little as they have to give,” Brown said.

Even if people have been a block captain in the past — or are still performing that duty today — all will need to submit a new volunteer application and complete a brief training, tentatively planned for March. (As of press time, no date had been set.)

“Everybody has to start on the same page,” Brown said. “(Neighborhood Watch) is going to be new and different, not as it was. We will not have district and area coordinators. The duties of a block captain will be very simple and communication will be much more streamlined.”

Those interested in being block captains can leave a phone message requesting a volunteer application by calling the Neighborhood Watch office at 858-538-8148. They can also access the application through the Rancho Bernardo Community Council’s Facebook page at tinyurl.com/FBRBCC. (A Facebook account is not needed for access.) Or they can request the form be emailed to them by sending a message to RBCommCouncil@aol.com.

The form is to be left at the Neighborhood Watch office on the second floor of the Rancho Bernardo Library, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive.

Rancho Bernardo Neighborhood Watch is fiscally sponsored by 4Community Solutions — formerly RB United — and works with the police department. Brown said the group’s website is being redesigned and will be relaunched in the near future.