The first meeting of the Cabernet Neighborhood Watch Committee was held on November 8, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. in the Raleys meeting room. Altogether, there were 15 people in attendance from our community in Cabernet Highlands.
Officer Andelin from Reno Police Department was on hand to offer assistance and advice on how best to proceed with forming and maintaining a neighborhood watch committee. He spoke with the attendees, querying their concerns. Many of the issues centered around car burglary and speeders.
Also present was Reno City Councilperson Bonnie Weber. Ms. Weber Hosted a meeting at Alice Smith School several weeks ago to promote Neighborhood Watch groups throughout Ward 4. She is committed to community outreach programs and has been instrumental in several improvements in the North Valleys.
Overall, the crime rate in our neighborhood has been typically very low. However, as the North Valleys continue to grow, the goal of the Neighborhood Watch group is to ensure the security of all our neighbors. Neighborhood Watch programs through, “Neighbors helping Neighbors” ensures the peaceful enjoyment of our homes and families.
The outcome of the first meeting was to establish a series of ongoing meetings to assist with teaching our neighbors better ways to ensure safety for their families and property; to encourage greater participation from more people; to provide communication resources through web page, email, and phone trees that inform people in our community; and to request from local agencies solutions to reduce traffic problems and crime going far into the future.
Officer Andelin spoke on the importance of reporting issues to our community leaders through local agencies.
For Emergencies call 911
For Non Emergencies call 775 334-2121
All others call Reno Direct 775 334-4636
Other sources of neighborhood information were discussed. Some suggestions were to attend the Neighborhood Advisory Board meetings held on the third Thursday of each month. Information is available via Reno City Neighborhood Advisory Board page at: https://www.reno.gov/community/your-neighborhood/ward-4
The next meeting of the Cabernet Neighborhood Watch group is tentatively scheduled for December 5, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. in the Raleys community room.
For information or to get involved, please contact Pat Shea or sign up on the website providing contact information.
Pat Shea 775 721 6742 pat100shea@gmail.com
Minutes Archive
News Archive
January Newsletter
Our calendar has been set for 2024
CABERNET HIGHLANDS NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
NEWSLETTER DATED January 16, 2024
Our calendar has been set for 2024. The dates and locations are as follow:
January 16, 2024
March 13, 2024
May 8, 2024
July 10, 2024
September 11, 2024
November 13, 2024
Meetings are held at Raley’s Community Room at 6:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing all of you at our bi-monthly meetings in the New Year.
Present were: Pat Shea, Billie Shea, Jo Ellen Curtis, Michael Sproehnle, Bonnie Weber, and Linda Curry
Many thanks to the people who donated money to assist with the purchase of Neighborhood Watch signs, Squarespace, and other supplies to assist with the Watch mission. Donations in 2023 exceeded $675 dollars. Many of our members also paid to join the National Neighborhood Watch Program, but as of yet, we still need 4 more members to join in order to make the application.
Pat Shea pointed out that Reno is one of the highest crime cities in the country. The 2020 crime rate in Reno, NV is 314 (City-Data.com crime index), which is 1.2 times greater than the U.S. average. It was higher than in 89.0% U.S. cities. And even though we feel safer in our neighborhood, he suggested we always be mindful of possible threats to our safety and property. Read more: https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Reno-Nevada.html
Pat suggested a safer way to protect your belongings is to tag them with your personal info or other identifiable marks. Insurance companies use to offer engraving tools to clients. Photographing your belongings is another way of easy identification should they be stolen.
Currently, the Reno Police Department and the City of Reno do not have an active program for Neighborhood Watch. Our goal is to reach out to Reno Police and the City Council to encourage these agencies to join the National Sheriff’s Association in order to sponsor more Neighborhood Watch programs in our community. Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam is very supportive of the community Neighborhood Watch and employs a full time manager to support the over 90 Neighborhood Watch programs in Washoe County.
Membership would mean training resources would be available to Neighborhoods who participate by providing classes and other materials. We would ask our neighbors to encourage their City Councilperson and Mayor to be more proactive in supporting these programs within the city. You can go online to send them an email or call Mayor Hilary Schieve at 775 334 2001 or Councilperson Meghan Ebert 775 334 2015 to request funding the Reno Police Department to provide support to our citizens.
A discussion was held on how to increase interest in Neighborhood Watch in Cabernet Highlands. Michael Sproehnle suggested that we should really promote social media opportunities. He will be working with Pat Shea to build a stronger social media presence that could be expanded to other neighborhoods to support building Neighborhood Watch programs throughout Reno.
Goals for 2024 are to continue to support and educate Cabernet Highland Neighbors in ways to develop their own support structure in the neighbors close to them. The goal is to have groups of 4 or 5 homes. If your neighbors are watching out for each other the risk of crime is greatly reduced.
Look for updates on our project to build a Social Media Community.
Stay safe everyone
Pat Shea
Pat100shea@gmail.com
775 721 6742
October Newsletter
CABERNET HIGHLANDS NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2023
Our calendar has been set for 2024. The dates and locations are as follow:
January 10, 2024
March 13, 2024
May 8, 2024
July 10, 2024
September 11, 2024
November 13, 2024
Meetings are held at Raley’s community room at 6:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing all of you at our bi-monthly meetings in the New Year.
The last meeting focused on Cyber crime and ways to prevent your phone or computer from being the venue for you being ripped off.
Ray Lake and Pat Shea held a discussion on ways to safeguard your devices by keeping your software up to date, using multi-factor authentication, and strong passwords using a password manager.
They talked about text messages and the dangers of opening text messages and or links attached to emails. Ray suggested that if you do see a text message that seems suspicious to forward it to 7726.
Reno Police Department has not budgeted for Neighborhood Watch support programs this year and so Cabernet Neighborhood Watch and other groups within the city limits will have to carry on without the support of our friends at RPD. We want to thank Lt Connelly, Officer Wei, and Officer Andolin for their support throughout the past year and a half. And a BIG thank you goes to Theresa Aquila at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department for her support throughout.
Studies have shown that neighborhood watch programs reduce crime by 16%. Therefore, we are committed to continuing with our efforts to support our Cabernet Highlands Community and to reach out to our neighbors in Estancia in the near future.
Some of the projects we were hoping to achieve may be put on the back burner for now, but the website will continue to provide information and communication to our friends and neighbors, and we will continue to meet every other month to provide support and information to our members.
HALLOWEEN IS COMING!!!
Some of our neighbors will be joining us to provide Glow Sticks and candy to the little ghosties and Goblins throughout the community. We will be monitoring activity in the neighborhood and contacting local law enforcement if there are any problems. In this way, we hope to ensure the safety of our younger neighbors.
Contact Pat Shea if you too wish to participate.
Stay safe everyone.
June 12 Meeting Minutes
Cabernet Highlands Neighborhood Watch Meeting Minutes June 12, 6:00 p.m.
Raley’s meeting room
Present at the meeting were: Pat Shea, Billie Shea, JoEllen Curtis, Dan Curtis, Chris Rasmussen, Ray Lake, Bonnie Weber, and Officer Wen Wei of the Reno Police Department
A Neighborhood Watch program is a group of people living in the same area who want to make their neighborhood safer by working together and in conjunction with local law enforcement to reduce crime and improve their quality of life.
Pat Shea opened the meeting reporting progress on membership noting the Cabernet Watch group now has 40 members who have signed onto the website to receive information and to participate in this community watch.
A discussion about the effectiveness of the mobile radar cart followed with Pat citing that Reno Police Department and Traffic did 3 traffic surveys over the past 60 days. The report was that the mean average speed was 25 miles per hour with approximately 25 percent of the over 650 cars counted going faster than the posted speed limit.
The city traffic engineer reported that because most of the traffic is within reason no speed bumps are warranted at this time.
Pat spoke on things that would help to reduce speed, he spoke of the average width of Buck drive starting at above 30 feet wide and narrowing as it transitioned into Souverain. He noted that cars parked on the street were actually causing drivers to reduce their speeds inside our neighborhoods.
Officer Wei offered to liaison with Reno City Traffic manager to determine next steps.
Several solutions to the traffic issues were discussed that included radar speed signs that warn drivers of their speed, painted strips on the road that looked like speed bumps with accompanying signs warning speed reduction ahead, and speed rumbles similar speed bumps.
In order to initiate any of these solutions, the community must come together in some way to purchase these options. Radar speed signs sell for approximately $4,100 each with a recommendation of at least 3 placed strategically on the busiest areas. Speed Rumbles would cost around $600 apiece and would advice a minimum of 5 or 6 to be effective. The members at the meeting discussed asking the HOA to purchase these devices by raising the monthly assessments. One member suggested asking the HOA Board to put this topic on the agenda at a future meeting.
This issue is a community wide issue. As such, we would like to hear your opinion on solutions to our traffic issues.
Officer Wei reported there were 14 crimes reported in the last 28 days most of which were in the Raleigh Heights neighborhood. He indicated our neighborhood was pretty quiet overall.
Officer Wei’ Tip of the Day:
Too many Ring notifications?
The Ring app has a new way to narrow the area you wish to receive notifications for and the type of notices you want to review. Check out the Cabernet Watch website for instructions on modifying your ring map.