KNIGHT WATCH

Knight Watch is a neighborhood program of SUNO community members watching out for each other during the workday, evenings, on vacations or during others' absences from campus. The purpose of the Knight Watch program is to create an alert community through simple crime prevention methods. The program works through the mutual aid of community members' watching each other's property.

There are several advantages to Knight Watch. Your community members knows who you are, what type of car you drive, and who belongs in your area. For instance, a patrol officer may not recognize who belongs in our neighborhood and who does not. In the case of suspicious activity, however, a SUNO officer could alert his/her fellow officers in an effort to protect the neighborhood.

Please note that Knight Watch does not promote vigilantism. Members of the Knight Watch are never asked to put themselves in harm's way to prevent crime. Knight Watchers are asked to observe and report suspicious activities to police officers. This leaves the responsibility for confronting and apprehending criminals where it belongs---with your SUNO Police Officers.

Knight Watch is an offshoot of the well-known crime prevention program "Neighborhood Watch", which is found in communities throughout America.

Knight Watch is a team effort between you and the SUNO Police Department in order to prevent crime through a team effort.

Knight Watch asks the entire community---students, faculty and staff---to look out for each other's welfare; to be alert about anything that threatens the quality of life on campus or in the area; and to report all suspicious activities, emergencies and other concerns to someone who is equipped to take action.

Knight Watch challenges you to be part of the community, not a bystander who refuses to get involved.

Here is how YOU can help US to help you!

Be aware, be on the lookout for, and please report:

• A tense situation you feel may "blow up."
• Any unusual noise that you cannot explain such as, a person screaming, breaking glass, pounding or gun shots.
• Any emergency such as an accident, fire, or a critically ill or injured person.
• Anyone being forced into a vehicle.
• Property being carried out of an area you know is not occupied.
• Recently broken windows or doors.
• Someone running from a vehicle, building or the area while carrying property, computers, furniture or luggage.
• Any form of vandalism such as: spray painting on a sign or building, graffiti, people removing benches or signs, or people pulling up or removing plants and shrubbery.
• Any abandoned vehicles on campus.
• Someone looking into building windows or the windows of parked vehicles, or someone trying to open vehicles.
• A stranger repeatedly walking or driving past your campus building.
• A vehicle driving slowly and aimlessly back and forth on a street or in a parking lot.
• Solicitors without properly issued local permits or licenses and without the authority of Student Affairs.
• Someone loitering around or walking through campus buildings, hallways or other areas of the campus with no clear purpose.
• Overgrown shrubs, tall weeds or trees that could harbor a potential perpetrator of a criminal nature.
• Dim and nonworking lights in and around buildings, parking lots, pathways and sidewalks.

REMEMBER, if what you see worries you, the SUNO Police Department needs to know about it! We would rather be called and not needed than needed and not called.

When you alert SUNO PD, be prepared to say:

1. What happened.
2. When and where it happened.
3. Whether anyone is or was injured (If appropriate, please obtain vehicle tag numbers and description, direction of travel, description of any suspects, and whether any weapons were involved).
4. If safe to do so, do not hang up.

NOTE: It would be a good idea to write information and details down on a piece of paper as soon as possible, so it can be related to the responding officers.

HELP US, HELP YOU!

Campus police officers cannot be in all places at all times. But with the help of involved, caring and alert students, faculty and staff, we can develop a more secure, a safer and healthier campus community environment.