Neighborhood Watch Program

The purpose of the Neighborhood Watch Program is to improve communications with your Police Department, address safety concerns, reduce burglaries and provide members with crime prevention instruction.

Through this partnership we can work together to promote a safe neighborhood and reduce crime to its lowest possible level. The key ingredient of this program is you. With your participation and willingness to notify the police department of problems and concerns, your subdivision will become or continue to be crime resistant.

If you would like to help establish a Neighborhood Watch Group in your subdivision please contact Sergeant Melissa Doss at 636-278-2244 ext. 3550, or email Melissa Doss.

Neighborhood Watch Meetings

• A Neighborhood Watch group usually consists of ten to fifteen homes located in the same general area of the subdivision.
• A Neighborhood Watch group is considered active if it meets at least twice a year. To qualify for Neighborhood Watch signs, the group must meet this minimal requirement.
• The meetings can be held anywhere in the City of St. Peters. The meeting may be held in a member’s home, on a street in the subdivision (weather permitting), at the St. Peters Police Department or at St. Peters City Hall.
• Each meeting will last no longer than one hour.
• The meeting will be conducted by a representative from the St. Peters Police Department.
• Meetings may include questions and concerns from members of the Neighborhood Watch.
• Plus, police provide training on one of the following crime prevention topics:
  • Identifying suspicious activity and crime reporting (Required training for each group)
  • Home security (Required training for each group)
  • Child Safety/abduction prevention
  • Personal Safety
  • Internet Safety for Kids and Adults
  • Drug Awareness and Prevention
  • Scam Prevention

Neighborhood Watch Signs & Decals

Every Active Neighborhood Watch Group will be supplied two Neighborhood Watch signs for their group. If the signs can be posted in the City’s right-of-way there will be no charge for installation. All signs and posts will remain the property of the City of St. Peters and will be removed if the group becomes inactive.

Each member of a Neighborhood Watch Group will be provided with two Neighborhood Watch Decals. The Decals can be displayed at the front and rear door of the residence but are not required.

Block Coordinator

• Each group will have one member that is designated as Block Coordinator for the group.
• The Block Coordinator will be responsible for setting up Neighborhood Watch meetings with the Police Department.
• To set up a meeting, the Block Captain will contact the St. Peters Police Department and request a meeting date. A meeting date and time will be established.
• The Police Department will provide flyers detailing the meeting information. The flyers will be sent to the Block Coordinator.
• The Block Coordinator will be responsible for distributing the flyers to the members of the group.

It's a simple message delivered each year: Get to know your neighbors and make a stand against crime.

National Night Out is an opportunity for neighborhoods to get together and have a fun block party. Sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, the goal of the event is to strengthen neighborhood and law enforcement partnerships to reduce crime.

In St. Peters, the Police Department encourages participation and accepts invitations to visit block parties on National Night Out. From 4-8 p.m., the first Tuesday evening of August, residents are encouraged to turn their outside lights on and step outside to spend the night with their neighbors. Every year, officers hand out fun items to kids such as stickers and coloring books.

Call 636-278-2244 or 636-477-6600, ext. 3550, to request police visits to your National Night Out party or for more information.

The mission of the St. Peters Citizen Police Academy is to provide a partnership for learning and to build a stronger bond with our community. It is also intended to open the lines of communication between the Community and the Police Department. The role of the Police has always been an area interest to the average citizen. The media has capitalized on this curiosity with shows such as “Cops” and “CSI.”

By allowing citizens a firsthand look at what rules, regulations and policies the police follow, some misunderstandings about police can be alleviated. The objective of the Citizen Police Academy is to produce informed citizens. The Citizens and Police Officers meet each other face to face in a neutral, friendly environment. In the past, citizens have simply seen a uniform, now they have an understanding about the person behind the badge.

Academy Information

The Citizen Police Academy is held twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, for approximately 12 weeks. The classes are Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at our Police Department.

During the Academy, you will learn about the following topics:

• 911 System and Communications
• Crime Scene Investigation
• Missouri/Constitutional Law
• Verbal Judo
• Defensive Tactics/Use of Force/Pressure Points
• Methods of Investigations
• Officer Survival
• Emergency Management
• School Resource Officers
• Child Abuse
• DWI Enforcement
• Radar Operations
• SWAT
• Traffic Accident Investigations
• Controlled Substances and Undercover Drug Operations

Each student gets one ride along with a patrol officer during their Academy time. This provides the student the opportunity to see firsthand the everyday operations of our patrol officers.

Qualifications

• Must be at least 18 years old
• Must pass a criminal back-ground check
• Open to all residents of St. Charles County
• $30 course fee
• Must sign a “Hold Harmless” agreement prior to the start of class

 To sign up, please contact:

P.O. Melissa Doss
Phone: 636-278-2244 ext. 3550
Email Melissa Doss

1020 Grand Teton Drive
St. Peters, Mo., 63376

At the end of the Academy, students will have a Graduation at the Board of Alderman’s meeting at City Hall and join a long list of distinguished graduates.

The St. Peters Family Locator Service is a program that would provide important information about person(s) who live in the St. Peters area who are suffering from the following:

• Alzheimer's
• Dementia
• Cerebral Palsy
• Autism
• Huntington Disease
• Geriatric Dementia

Officers, on occasion, come into contact with persons who suffer from one of the conditions above, and at times it can take several hours to identify the person and to contact the appropriate relative or caregiver. This time delay can be extremely stressful for a person who is confused and suffering from these diseases, as well as the caregiver looking for their loved ones. To address this issue, the City of St. Peters created a database that can be accessed by St. Peters police officers with the sole purpose to identify a person and then contact the appropriate loved one or caregiver. The database would have the picture and emergency contact information immediately available to the officer who comes into contact with a citizen suffering from dementia, thereby making identification immediate. The immediate identification would mean a quick delivery back to their loved one. Since this program is grouped with an existing system, there is no additional cost to the City of St. Peters or the citizens using the service.

Family members or the person suffering from the above illnesses can simply fill out the Family Locator Service Personal Identification Information Form below and bring it to the St. Peters Police Department, where it will be kept on a secure computer database for officers, who can access the information from the patrol vehicle computers as well as computers within the police station. The information provided on the form will be kept strictly confidential and will only be used for identification purposes.

The Family Locator Service Personal Identification Information Form can be filled out at the Police Department, or a Police Department representative will come to their place of residence to complete the form. The form would include a personal description of the individual with the above illnesses, along with emergency contact information. The Police Department will take a picture for you, or a photograph may be provided. The photograph along with the emergency contact sheet would be entered into the database for immediate retrieval, when needed, by police officers.

Note: It is vital that the photograph is current and we have a close-up picture of the person's face. We would prefer taking the photograph ourselves, if possible.

After a one-year period, the person filling out the emergency contact sheet will be contacted. If there is no longer a need for the information, then it will be purged from the database.

• Please download and fill out the Family Locator Service Personal Identification Form (PDF) and return it to the St. Peters Police Department in person.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact the Police Department’s Community Services Division at 636-278-2244, ext. 3560.

Do you currently utilize video surveillance at your home or business? If you do, the St. Peters Police could use your help! Video surveillance is one of the best methods to catch suspects and convict them. As crimes occur nearby, many residents and business owners are unaware that their camera systems may have captured information that could help solve a crime. Likewise, police are not always aware of who may have potentially vital video evidence.

That's why the St. Peters Police Department implemented a Resident Camera Program in which residents and business owners can register their address to let the Police know about the locations of nearby video cameras. If a crime occurs nearby, the Police will reach out to the registered homeowners to collect the video footage to use in the investigation. Registering for this program does not automatically give the Police Department access to your camera system.

• Register your address and help fight crime!

Terms and Conditions:

The information you provide regarding your camera systems will be for official use only. Your personal information will remain confidential and not be distributed except as required by law or court order. This program is entirely voluntary and you can withdraw consent to view video footage from your camera system at any time by calling St. Peters Police Department Community Relations. If necessary, the St. Peters Police Department will contact you directly, using the information provided by you at the time of registration, to request the appropriate video surveillance footage. Any footage containing or related to criminal activity collected by St. Peters Police Department may be used as evidence during any stage of a criminal proceeding and registrants could be subject to a court subpoena. Under no circumstances shall the registrants construe that they are acting as an agent and/or employee of the City of St. Peters or St. Peters Police Department through the program.