Neighborhood Watch

The Falls Church Police Department works closely with the Virginia Crime Prevention Association and neighboring jurisdictions to successfully implement its Neighborhood Watch Program. Residents protect their neighborhoods by observing and reporting suspicious or unusual activities. Many communities with active programs have experienced substantial decreases in burglary, vandalism, and larceny.

If you would like to start a Watch program in your neighborhood, meet with neighbors who have agreed to help, and contact the police department at 703-248-5056 (TTY 711) or email.
Fence
Neighborhood Watch Benefits
  • Creates a greater awareness of crime
  • Increases reporting of crime and suspicious activities
  • Serves as a warning to criminals
  • Promotes neighborliness
  • Provides residents with access to crime patterns and trends that may threaten them
  • Increases arrests and convictions of criminals due to the availability of eyewitnesses
How to Protect Your Home
  • Always close and lock garage doors
  • Always lock your doors
  • Avoid having personal identification information on keys
  • Cancel paper deliveries during vacations and absences
  • Change locks moving into a new residence
  • Do not provide information to unknown callers -- at the door and on the phone
  • Engrave valuables with your driver's license number
  • Give a trusted neighbor access to your home during a vacation for periodic checks
  • Install exterior solid core doors with deadbolt locks
  • Install good lights in areas that may otherwise conceal prowlers
  • Install wide-angle peepholes in solid doors
  • Install window stops to restrict opening
  • Keep emergency numbers close to all phones
  • Lock all car doors and keep keys in the possession of the owner
  • Make sure exterior doors are hinged from within
  • Make sure your home address is visible
  • Mow the grass and shovel snow so that properties don't look vacant
  • Never leave a message on the door detailing where you have gone
  • Never publicize vacation plans or tell them to unknown persons
  • Place valuables in a bank safety deposit box
  • Report suspicious persons in your neighborhood
  • Request ID from unfamiliar persons who ask to enter your home
  • Trim shrubbery close to your building to prevent break-ins from going unnoticed
  • Use light timers at all times, including periods of absences