they have regional Boards of Realtors and offer
great opportunities for you to get a message out to a
targeted audience.
• Remember that many of the realtors also live in your
community. Because of this, you will find many of
your interactions cross both the professional and
personal side of policing.
DOG WALKER WATCH:
On the heels of Realtor Watch, we also started a program
we call Dog Walker Watch. If you think about it, who is
more attuned to the rhythms of a neighborhood’s street?
Dog walkers. Even more compelling; in Laguna Beach,
dog ownership is between 37-47% of the population. Dog
Walker Watch came to life when an officer was out taking
a crime report and discovered one of the professional
dog walkers had witnessed the crime but didn’t know
if he should have called the police. We looked at this an
untapped opportunity to educate and partner with them
to call when they see something out of place.
Our first organized meeting took place in a local park
and was attended by residents and professional dog
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walkers. Police department staff attended the event and
even brought along their own canine companions. The
hour long meeting quickly turned into two hours. The
attendees wanted to be educated on what to look for and
when it was appropriate to call the police.
Our first meeting lead to three additional get togethers
in various parts of town. As with Realtor Watch, we have
experienced some lessons learned, which we are more
than happy to share with you, if you are thinking of
starting a similar program.
• The placement of your meetings has to be strategic.
We tried parks, community centers, a Farmer’s
Market and the Dog Park. Two were well attended
and two were not. You could probably guess that
places where dogs are comfortable (dog parks) are
places which will which lead to greater attendance.
Have your meeting where people and their dogs
already congregate.
• Advertise your first meeting via all available outlets.
Dog Walkers are commonly outside in the early
morning or early evening hours, and because of this,
they find out about the meetings in different manners.