Woodland Heights neighbor Shanyn Wehde wanted to know why someone wasn’t doing something more about the crime in her neighborhood. And then she says she realized she is that someone.
“You’ve got to get up and do something or else it’s going to continue,” she said.
In July of 2019, Shanyn started the Northside Watchers of the Neighborhoods Facebook page. The goal of the page is to give her neighbors the tools to help themselves through communicating with each other. On the page, the more than 480 members are able to share details about suspicious activity or crime that has occurred in the area. She then takes that information to her Springfield Police Area Representative (PAR) Officer for follow-up investigation.
“There can only be so many police officers in the neighborhood and we can’t have officers on every street all the time, but there’s enough citizens where we can have eyes on every corner at every street,” Wehde said.
However, she says Northside Watchers of the Neighborhoods is different than other crime-fighting Facebook groups in our community. Wehde’s goal is to work with local law enforcement and supplement programs currently in place, like Neighborhood Watch. She says she does not want to hinder law enforcement’s efforts to fight crime and discourages group participants from taking the law into their own hands.
“Shanyn has been great about sharing information with SPD’s Community Services Section via email, phone, and Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association,” said SPD Lieutenant Jennifer Charleston, who oversees CSS.
There are strict guidelines to join Northside Watchers of the Neighborhoods. Anyone requesting to join is thoroughly vetted. To be part of the Facebook group, you must be a Springfield resident living in Zone 1 or Zone 2.
If you don’t live in Zone 1 or 2 but want to help keep an eye on crime in your neighborhood, Wehde encourages others to start pages like hers. Her biggest suggestion is that group administrators be picky about who they allow to join and to make sure group members feel safe in order to foster participation. Wehde says participation is the key.