Watching for OutWatch

In local news, some residents of Seattle's Capitol Hill are getting fed up with street assaults. According to this article in The Seattle Times , a new neighborhood watch group is in the works. Dubbed "OutWatch" and modeled after Q-Patrol in the early 1990s (which was modeled after NYC's Guardian Angels of an earlier decade), the current plan seems to have patrols consisting of 4 persons. Initially, at least 2 of the 4 are supposed to have self-defense training. [Which is all very nice, except that self-defense may or may not be what they need. I sure hope their self-defense training included de-escalation training and bystander intervention, which are more valuable skills for this endeavor. I hope they are also planning on background checks for all volunteers.] According to the article, it seems the patrols' primary aim is to escort people safely to their cars, homes, or other safe place. This should be useful -- after all, the police do advise us to keep with a group to reduce risk of assault. Simply having a presence can also remind us to keep safety and awareness of our surroundings in mind, as well as send a message that people are watching and won't put up with violence in their community. I wish them luck organizing and sustaining this project.

You can listen to Watching for OutWatch online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Watching for OutWatch is an episode from Safety in Seattle News by Joanne Factor of Strategic Living.

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This episode was published on Mar 28, 2014.

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