Residents are now on the lookout in Mountainview Heights, a neighbourhood in Waterdown’s east end.
On Friday (June 21), dozens of people gathered to sign up for a pilot project neighbourhood watch, with the goal of cutting down on vehicle thefts in the area.
Ward 15 Coun. Ted McMeekin and staffer Chris Pera handed out reflective Neighbourhood Watch stickers to those who turned out for the launch of the program.
“If you have cars driving around at one o’clock in the morning and it doesn’t have a fluorescent sticker on the back, then we can send the word out to everyone in the watch,” McMeekin said.
McMeekin said the project is driven by “community members who are sick and tired of the break and enters” and car thefts in the neighbourhood.
Hamilton police last released an update on crime statistics in Ward 15 for March, which said there were 34 total thefts for the year only three months into 2024, and 20 of those thefts were in March.
A provincial task force investigating the rising car thefts announced Tuesday that it has made 124 arrests, seizing 177 stolen vehicles, valued at around $10 million.. Police did not share where the cars came from.
Neighbours feel like 'sitting ducks'
McMeekin reminded the crowd the point of the new watch isn’t to dole out vigilante justice, but to keep an eye out for suspicious vehicles that might be trawling the area for theft.
There are plenty of unofficial, Facebook-based neighbourhood watch groups, but the Mountainview Heights Neighbourhood Watch will have its own private website for neighbours to keep watch. McMeekin said it will provide residents with more privacy when posting. Signs will also be posted around the neighbourhood, letting potential car thieves know the neighbourhood has an active watch program.
Local resident Caitlin Abai said the watch is a solution to her family and other residents who feel like sitting ducks.
“On our street alone, three trucks have been stolen,” she said.
Abai has lived in the neighbourhood since 2020 with her husband and two kids. She said she had no idea the vehicle theft rate was so high in Waterdown when they moved here.
“Within the first year, our brand-new truck was stolen right out of our driveway,” she said.
Both Abai and McMeekin said the watch is a good way for the neighbours in Mountainview Heights to get to know each other and speak up when they see something suspicious going on.
McMeekin said vehicle thefts and break-ins usually aren't spur of the moment and would-be thieves will case a neighbourhood to choosing their targets before carrying out the theft.
"Maybe you see a truck driving around you have never seen before. It could be nothing," McMeekin said.
"It's about having the eyes and ears and communication in the neighbourhood."
How the watch works
The Mountainview Heights Neighbourhood Watch members will stay connected using a private website that can only be accessed by residents through a QR code or invitation.
Residents have to register with their names and postal code, then are divided into smaller groups based on their neighbourhood.
Mountainview Heights has around 14,000 houses in it, so the area is divided into smaller groups with leaders monitoring posts for their neighbourhoods. All leaders who sign up for the watch have to complete a police background check.
The group was granted $10,000 from McMeekin's community fund to print bumper stickers, put up official signage in the neighbourhood and to get the word out to Mountainview Heights residents.
The reflective neighbourhood watch stickers are meant to help identify cars going through the neighbourhood at strange hours.
If a vehicle is in the neighbourhood late at night and does not have a sticker, McMeekin said, it can signal neighbours that the vehicle is suspicious.
Pera said, "We are aiming for a deterrant. If people come into this neighbourhood, they will know there are eyes on them."
