Keyser City Councilman Isaac “Sonny” Alt has mounted a dogged effort to protect the city's public parks, culminating in tomorrow night's meeting at City Hall, when he will take the first concrete steps toward organizing Crime Watch programs in the community.
The City Council can match Alt's efforts by supporting the purchase of security cameras to monitor all four parks.
The 7 p.m. Crime Watch meeting will include Alt, other members of the Keyser Recreation Board, and a representative of the Keyser City Police. After putting out a call last month for volunteers, Alt said more than 50 residents contacted him about participating.
The Crime Watch program follows a simple, age-old formula, enlisting citizens to keep an eye out for their property and their neighbors'. It's all about looking out for one another.
Under a Crime Watch program, citizen volunteers serve as the eyes and ears for police. If you see something amiss, call police and let them do their job. Crime Watch volunteers are never asked to intervene themselves in suspected criminal activity.
Alt initially intended the program to focus on the city's four parks: The South End rec complex, the West End ballfield and play area; the play set at Laffey Park off of East Piedmont Street, and the Jack Rollins park on the North End.
However, the program is open to all neighborhoods, not just those in the vicinity of the parks. “We'll take anyone who's interested in participating,” Alt said.
Alt remains focussed on bringing the program to bear on the parks, though. Just in the past two weeks vandals have struck Laffey and Rollins parks, and Alt hopes that residents in those areas will sign up for Crime Watch, to keep an eye on both the neighborhoods and the parks.
The City Council can also do its share by purchasing security cameras, at least for Laffey and Rollins. The cameras would be wired into the police station, where dispatchers could monitor the areas 24/7.
At the last council meeting, city officials said cameras had been discussed, but no vote was ever taken to buy the cameras. The council needs to take that vote, and buy those cameras.
Under Alt the Recreation Board has invested thousands of dollars and countless man-hours in upgrading and beautifying the city's parks. Left unchecked, acts of vandalism will undo all of that progress.
Alt is doing his part. Citizens are doing their part by signing up for Crime Watch. The City Council needs to do its part by having security cameras installed at city parks.
Keyser, W.Va. —
