Our next Neighborhood Watch Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, June 6, at 10:00 a.m. in Town Hall. Please save the date. We would like to welcome any new members who might not have attended any previous meetings, as well as our regular members. We will send out notices prior to the meeting. If anyone has any questions on the Neighborhood Watch program or would like to join the program, please call me at 860.738.0167.

Neighborhood Watch is a crime prevention program that teaches citizens how to help themselves by identifying and reporting suspicious activity in their neighborhoods. It also provides citizens with the opportunity to make their neighborhoods safer and improve the quality of life. Neighborhood Watch groups focus on observation and awareness as a means of preventing crime, “watching out for each other.” It is not a vigilante organization.

Officer Robert Varasconi is Winchester’s Community Relations Officer for the Police Department, and he has done an excellent job leading our Neighborhood Watch Program. He and Chief Nick Guerriero have been great supporters of the program for the lake.

Officer Varasconi has provided some excellent presentations - how to protect your home from forced invasion, explanation and identification of drugs, and fire protection were just some of the highlights. The meetings also provide a forum for members to discuss current problems they might have in their particular neighborhood.

I hope to see many of you at the meeting.