Neighborhood Watch is old idea with roots going back to the late 1960s, but the concept has recently found new life in Simi Valley.

VIGILANCE BACK IN STYLE—Resident Mike Kort applies a new Neighborhood Watch decal to his window last week. After a rash of car break-ins, Kort and several of his neighbors n the Texas tract in northeast Simi have bonded together to take a stand against lawbreakers. SVPD reports other Simi Valley neighborhoods are doing the same. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers Just this month, six neighborhoods have contacted the police department to show their interest—all with the desire to be proactive in protecting the streets they call home.

One new Neighborhood Watch is on Galveston Street, between Fort Worth Drive and

Kadota Street, in the Texas tract. Spearheading the watch are relatively new Simi residents Mike and Leah

Kort, who’ve lived on Galveston for four years.

PROTECTING THE ’HOOD— Leah and Mike Kort and their neighbor Keith Jajko are among the 20 people who attended a police-led meeting in the Texas tract this month to discuss a new Neighborhood Watch program. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers Their idea to form a watch started last summer. They said that hearing about goings-on at neighborhood council meetings as well as reading about local crimes in the Acorn got them thinking about the safety of their two young children.

Though they picked up informational pamphlets from the police station last year, the watch didn’t come together until now.

“The catalyst to take this thing a step further (was) over one weekend there was a rash of cars on our block that got broken into. And we thought, maybe this is telling us to get this thing going,” Mike Kort said.

Get going they did. The Korts reached out to their neighbors, passed out fliers and set up a meeting for Feb. 4. Twenty people attended and even chipped in money to buy Neighborhood Watch signs for the block.

While their neighborhood is largely problem-free—with the main issue being crimes of opportunity—Mike Kort said the decision to start a watch is all about prevention and participation.

“As we read the Acorn each week, we see that the police department is being downsized or overextended, “ he said. “If we can just be an extra pair of eyes and ears to help them out, it would be that much better for everybody.”

Leah Kort agreed, noting that residents know better than officers what cars belong on the block and who is out of place.

The other benefit of a watch is that it introduces neighbors to one another in a time when many never meet.

“I didn’t know half the neighbors so it was nice to meet everyone and know that everyone is kind of looking out for each other,” Leah Kort said.

A Kadota-Fig resident who lives just a half-mile away from the Korts happens to agree. At the same time the watch was being set up on Galveston, Carol Thomaier was working on establishing one for Adam Road, between Tapo and Kadota streets.

A resident of Simi for 30 years, living on Adam Road for the last two, Thomaier said her neighborhood has been seeing more drug problems and graffiti recently and that the tight-knit community realized it needed to rally together to keep the block from going “downhill.”

Though the seed had already been planted, Thomaier said the tagging of her neighbor’s house early this month confirmed the need for a Neighborhood Watch.

After the walls and sidewalk outside his home were scribbled with graffiti by opposing taggers, Jeff Renfro decided to take matters into his own hands.

On Feb. 2, he conducted an hours-long stakeout that resulted in his helping the police capture four juveniles, who had spray cans and fresh paint on their hands.

Though Renfro is in favor of Neighborhood Watch, he has already resigned to moving out of Simi after a decade on Adam Road, saying that he sees the writing on the wall—no pun intended.

“There’s a cultural divide that is happening here in Simi Valley that no one wants to admit to,” he said. “Little by little, from the east end to the west end, I’ve noticed a lot of graffiti on the freeway and the backs of buildings. We have a problem that I don’t think we are putting enough emphasis on.”

Renfro said residents shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for themselves, that people need to observe and report.

“We just need a safer place to live,” he said. “And it begins at home.”

Though Renfro plans to move to escape the problems plaguing Simi, his neighbor, Jim Matousek, has a different perspective.

The 26-year Adam Road resident says the neighborhood isn’t lost; it’s just time to step up and police it.

“There seems to me a few people where everything is doom and gloom,” Matousek said, adding, “I just think if everybody starts to open their eyes a little bit, it’s going to be helpful.”

And that’s the whole point of the watch: to educate and empower the neighborhood, said Crime Prevention Specialist JeanMarie Maroshek.

Maroshek has headed up SVPD’s Neighborhood Watch program for three years. She said the Galveston Street and Adam Road communities are a step ahead because they called the department before having major issues, not after.

And the program is growing. Maroshek attended four start-up meetings this month, with 20 to 30 people at each, and two more are coming up.

In the past, Simi has had as many as 44 watches, but Maroshek is unsure how many are still going strong. She said they tend to die out if the sparkplug—like the Korts or Thomaier—leaves the area.

Police Chief Mike Lewis is interested in expanding the program, which he said hasn’t yet reached its full potential.

“Up to this point, it hasn’t been a big assistance, but that’s why we are trying to reenergize the program and devote a lot more effort to it,” he said.

The beauty of the program is that it’s simple, Maroshek said. All it takes is residents who are willing to get involved, be aware and report suspicious behavior.

“The best crime-fighting tool ever invented is a good neighbor,” she said.

Leah Kort agreed.

“Your neighborhood is only as safe as you make it,” she said.

For more information or to start a Neighborhood Watch, call Maroshek at (805) 583-6276.