ODESSA, Texas — The Odessa Police Department held their Neighborhood Watch Meeting Tuesday night. This month's topic was "Basic Crime Prevention."
With Ector County experiencing car break-ins and home robberies, Tuesday night's focus was on helping Odessans become more aware of their surroundings, like how to spot suspicious activity, how to talk to the police if you are a victim of a robbery and how to be more engaged with your own community.
"We have to get out of that habit that we've come up with in the last 10 years of just keeping our head down going from our house to our car, going to work or going to where we're going. Or keeping our head down to where we're going," OPD Corporal Mike Hamilton said. "We have to be able to pick our eyes up, pick our heads up, become a good neighbor, you know, start speaking to the people who live on the left and the right. Once you get to them, talk to the person across the street, encourage them to do the same thing. Talk to their neighbors beside them. That way everybody can get back to that old village that we used to have."
Corporal Hamilton told NewsWest 9 that if someone is a witness to a crime, they should still report it to OPD.