Crime watches may have been a popular gathering for community members in the past, but today, many groups in Schuylkill County are seeing fewer volunteers interested in dedicating their time.
Most of the groups today were started about 2007 to 2008 and are reincarnations of the original groups of yesteryear that have been somewhat forgotten.
They also operate independently without much interactions from other watches in other communities.
Gordon Slater, president of the Shenandoah Community Watch, and Charles Vascavage, a member of the watch, both of Shenandoah, said that while there were about 25 people interested when it first started about six years ago, today's numbers have dwindled to about five at most.
The Shenandoah Community Watch meets at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the borough hall.
Slater said the group was started about the time of the fatal beating in July 2008 of illegal Mexican immigrant Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala.
While most who were truly interested stuck around, many in the beginning got involved because they had some personal issues with other community members or "wanted to cause trouble," Vascavage said.
Slater said that the members who are involved have no power to do anything outside of being a mediator between the people and police and are willing to go to court if they have to testify as witnesses.
"We're just an extra set of eyes and ears for the police force because they can't be everywhere," Slater said. "They don't understand that there's not too much police can do unless you have someone who can testify."
Any information that the watch discovers is turned over to borough police and Slater said that they don't know what happens afterward since they are not part of investigations.
Slater once noticed an apartment building in the borough that had many suspicious, out-of-state vehicles parked outside it and reported it to police. The next week they were gone, so Slater said that his tip most likely helped police.
The Shenandoah Community Watch has also sponsored events in recent years such as a lights-on event when it first started and last year sponsored the first Shenandoah Community Carnival.
Anyone interested in joining is asked to come to the meetings or contact Slater at either 570-527-9653 or watch462@yahoo.com.
Another community watch that started about August 2008 is the New Philadelphia Crime Watch, led by coordinator John Bondura, New Philadelphia.
Meeting at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the Good Intent Volunteer Fire Company, New Philadelphia, the group has between 12 and 15 active members, Bondura said, and has had as many as 20 to 25 members involved.
Most members are older than 55 years old, but there are three younger members.
Part of the borough government, it was founded in 2008 when the borough was looking for volunteers to start a group.
"My crime watch members are instructed to be the eyes and ears of the community," Bondura said.
Members have a form they can fill out if they see anything suspicious. Then the forms are collected at the monthly meeting and passed on to Officer Robert Crawford of the New Philadelphia police, who attends meetings.
Crawford also passes on information to members that the crime watch is allowed to know.
One of the most recent examples of what they do, Bondura said, is that on Tuesday a borough worker alerted him to a hypodermic needle on the street, believed to be drug paraphernalia.
Bondura took photos and noted it in a report that will be passed on to police.
"My crime watch members do not do any patrol," Bondura said.
In addition to being a forum where crime watch members can report anything suspicious and worth passing on to police, Bondura also has guest speakers attend nearly every other month and offers other programs for members.
Last month, Bondura had a speaker who talked about American Indian culture to open up his members to other cultures.
Since he also has 36 years of law enforcement experience, he offers programs such as self defense.
A community watch that's now in its fifth year is the Girardville Crime Watch that began when Mayor Edward Burns took office.
"The watch began because of a lot of concerned citizens," Burns said. "There was a crime watch years ago, but it disappeared because it was inactive. We got together to start this crime watch and it's been pretty successful."
Burns said the organization conducts a children's night in the summer for them to have fun and learn things about safety. Fundraisers are also held. The watch is planning basketball fundraisers to help the borough to pay for its new police vehicle.
Burns said the monthly meetings have between 12 and 18 people in attendance.
"The crime watch has made a difference," he said. "We actually helped put someone away for two years. It alerts everybody. We help the police department by buying them radios and badges."
Meetings are held at 7 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month in borough hall, and more information is available by calling 570-276-1535.
One of the newest local watches is the Ashland Community Watch that began in August 2013.
"I'm kind of the guy who got the ball rolling," Frank Rice, president, said.
Rice approached the Ashland Borough Council about a crime or community watch when he was a Capitol Police officer, but he encountered some resistance to the idea due to concerns about liability issues.
"I questioned it because surrounding communities have crime watches. Why aren't they concerned about liability?" Rice said. "So, I just kept pushing at it and found some people who were interested in it. We went back to borough council, who said OK and that they would give it a try. We put some posters around town and we had 35 people at that first meeting in August. That tells me that the majority of the people wants something."
The general meeting of the community watch is held on the Tuesday before the borough council meeting, which is the second Wednesday of the month.
Rice said concerns discussed can be taken to the council meeting the next evening.
The watch holds its monthly board meeting the following Tuesday. The organization is registered as a limited liability corporation.
"Our mission statement is to assist the police on discovering any illegal acts or safety hazards in the borough," Rice said. "The people are constantly told not be armed at any time, that they are not police and do not have powers to arrest or apprehend. They are the eyes and ears of the police and authority, and when they see an act of a suspicious nature, they should pick up the phone and call."
Former police Chief Adam J. Bernodin Jr. and Mayor Dennis Kane have attended and expressed their support, plus council members and guests speakers.
While many of the community watch groups hold monthly meetings, the crime watch program in Schuylkill Haven has been held by the borough police as a citizens police academy, but has had challenges the past two years.
Police Chief Jeffrey Walcott said that he took over in 2007 and it ran strong for five years until it became "a little stagnate."
"It's of no fault of the members and citizens, but due to department stresses and manpower," Walcott said. "I've been thinking about refocusing that and getting on top of it."
A four-week program was held annually, every Thursday during April, where citizens earned the right to identify themselves as academy graduates.
"We were averaging over 120 citizens during that class at night," Walcott said.
The meetings were to ensure the borough residents were educated on things such as scams and other things to look out for as well as were a way to clear up a lot of misunderstandings with borough ordinances.
"It has been successful," Walcott said. "Our true focus was to get proactive in the community."
Walcott said that it has helped borough residents be better informed and able to provide more detailed information when reporting suspicious activity to police.
A program may be held sometime this summer.