By TRACEY COMPTON
tcompton@rentonreporter.com
Pam Wells hopes that fellow residents in her Meadow Glen Townhomes community take the same attitude to safety and crime prevention that she does.
“I treat the entire property like it’s my house, my yard – even though I only own a percentage,” she said.
Wells is a captain for a recently formed block watch at Meadow Glen, one of the many neighborhoods that will participate in Kent’s National Night Out event Tuesday.
The festivities are part of nationwide effort to raise awareness about crime in communities and strengthen neighborhood spirit.
About 103 neighborhood events are registered with the Kent Police Department so far. Registration closes today. This is the 29th anniversary of National Night Out events across the country and the 27th year for activities in Kent.
Kent Police will visit events along with other city staff, including Mayor Suzette Cooke, City Council members, the Valley Regional Fire Authority, Parks and Public Works staff. There also will be representatives from Washington state government and Target, a national sponsor of National Night Out at events from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Meadow Glen will host massages, an ice cream social, crafts and games for kids and collect dead electronics to recycle at their Night Out event from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday at 20820 114th Place SE, Kent.
“We want to make sure everybody knows who everybody is,” Wells said. “If not at least get to make one new friend on the property.”
The Meadow Glen community has experienced dropped stolen cars in the past and recently a rash of break-ins in the last year, she said.
“We had a successful arrest right after the Block Watch was opened,” Wells said.
Three and a half weeks after Meadow Glen formed their Block Watch of nine members and three “ghost” members, who remain anonymous, two men were arrested with a car full of stolen merchandise on the property. The two were attempting to break into more residences at the complex when they were spotted by block watch members.
“So it pays to have a block watch, it really does,” Wells said.
She hopes that at least half of the 200 residents in Meadow Glen come to its Night Out event.
Last year 110 events were put on in support of National Night Out in Kent.
“It’s been an on-going commitment for our city to be involved,” said Sarah Wood, public education specialist with the Kent Police Department.
Now, the department is trying to alert homeowners to a new crime called “flocking.” Groups of people will knock on the doors of residences and if no one answers and they think the home is vacant, they break in. It’s a regional crime trend, not just in Kent, Wood said.
“We aren’t seeing the mob or ‘flocking’ happening here too often, but the idea of small groups going to a neighborhood – more of an organized method to breaking into homes, we are seeing,” she said.
National Night Out is a great opportunity for communities to come together and form block watches, Wood said.
“Fortunately, we have many success stories of neighbors getting to know each other, communicating, and identifying suspicious people, cars and activity,” she said. “From this, they call 911, and we are able to make contact and in some cases make an arrest of a prolific burglar, like the situation that occurred in Meadow Glen Townhomes.”
For more information, Wood, of Kent Police Department, at 253-856-5851.
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