COEUR d’ALENE — Cora Powers called Los Angeles home for about 25 years. In doing so, she said she became well familiar with neighborhood crimes.

Since she moved to Fernan Hill in Coeur d’Alene more than a decade ago, she knows a bit about a peaceful community.

She prefers the latter.

And she supports what helps it stay serene.

“I greatly value our Neighborhood Watch,” she said.

Powers is co-captain of a Neighborhood Watch that has 120 homes on its roster. It’s a role she stepped into three years ago and is proud to hold.

“We really saw the tremendous value it provided to the community,” she said.

In a nutshell, they pay attention to what’s going on in their neighborhood, to what may be suspicious activity. That could be an unfamiliar car cruising around, people coming and going from a home at all hours, or a neighbor dog barking like something’s up.

And there’s the obvious, a prowler outside a home or car.

All it takes is an email blast or texts and within minutes, homes up and down blocks can be on alert.

“We really do watch out for each other,” Powers said.

The city of Coeur d’Alene is looking it reignite its Neighborhood Watch program after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus.

It has a handful of active ones, but hopes to add more because it is effective at reducing crime, said Sgt. Jared Reneau.

Perhaps most importantly, it builds a bond between police and citizens.

“The biggest asset and the best asset that we have in the police department is the relationship and the trust that we have with the citizens of Coeur d’Alene,” Reneau said. “We're so fortunate here that we don't have a lot of the issues that they they have in big cities. We have a very supportive community.

“And that partnership works out really well as long as we can engage with them. And we always want to build on that,” he added.

Reneau said the goal with Neighborhood Watch is to connect neighbors, who establish a line of communication, usually emails or texts. There could be just a few homes involved to more than a hundred. The idea remains the same: Be alert to what’s happening outside your home and around the area.

“They recognize who's supposed to be there and who's not," Reneau said. "And when it's suspicious to them, they're able to contact us right away."

Crime is often connected to drug activity, Reneau said, and that moves to different points around the city, so no area is immune.

“Ideally the way the program works is, the neighbors recognize those types of circumstances and communicate that to their Neighborhood Watch captain, who in turn relays that information to us,” he said.

It opens communication lines and builds a bond among residents who might not otherwise meet.

“If it lasts long enough, they do eventually gain that trust, where they really know their neighbors,” Reneau said.

Teri Heinrich, crime prevention specialist with the police, said watch captains generally have a meeting among those participating. They take part in the National Night Out in August, which unites people and police for a celebration.

“It only takes one tiny spark to create enthusiasm and interest,” she said. “And if you put it out there and we show up and we support whatever you're doing, then that creates enthusiasm and spark. And that's what we want. We want our community to stay this wonderful, caring community.”

Watch captains undergo a background check.

“We don’t want a criminal becoming a Neighborhood Watch captain,” Heinrich said, laughing.

To be clear, it’s not about turning ordinary people into would-be police officers. It’s not about Joe Citizen on patrol, following someone they think is shady, confronting people, collecting evidence as a wannabe police officer. That is, in fact, discouraged.

It's about neighbors looking after each other and being the eyes and ears for police.

“The more we can interact and communicate and build that relationship, the more successful the police department is in the mission of reducing crime,” Reneau said.

Powers said Fernan Hill’s Neighborhood Watch program has been everything she hoped. She would love to see it spread throughout the city, creating safer neighborhoods.

“It’s an integral part of our community up here,” she said.

She likes to tell the story of a brother-in-law who came to visit, went to take photos and returned an hour later. He ran into a number of folks on his walkabout and had nothing but good things to say about them.

“The friendliest people I’ve ever met,” he told Powers.

It’s not by accident.

“That’s Neighborhood Watch at work,” she said.

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