The Benton Police Department (BNPD) is officially launching the ‘Be Wary, Don’t Be Scary’ fall initiative during the month of October. The ‘Be Wary, Don’t Be Scary’ initiative will be a program that has two primary goals. One goal will be focusing on traffic related issues throughout the city, including speeding, distracted driving, and other related offenses. Recently, the BNPD obtained a new radar speed trailer to place in neighborhoods as a deterrent to speeding. The trailer was in addition to a speed sign we have used for many years.
During the course of utilizing the speed sign over the past two months, it was brought to our attention how many areas are having issues with speeders. This was brought to the forefront during recent stories of additional radar patrol on a street near a school zone. We were contacted at a much higher rate than usual about providing radar patrols on various streets and will be focusing on areas that were provided to us in an effort to curb speeding and other dangerous activities.
The second goal will be to work towards curbing property crimes that have occurred recently. Although a recent arrest netted over a dozen charges and solved a lot of the recent crimes, there is still some proactive actions we plan on taking to curtail future criminal activity.
Continued extra patrols of neighborhoods will take place, but with the addition of some unmarked units to detect criminal activity easier and keep criminals on their toes. We want to also remind everyone about the importance of the neighborhood watch concept and looking out for one another. Neighborhood watch programs have taken on more of a digital look recently with the launch of the Nextdoor program that allows you to interact with only those in close proximity to your home, along with the police department. For more information on it and how it works please visit: www.nextdoor.com
BNPD also wants to remind people about the various crime fighting tools that have at their disposal. Crime Reports is a program that allows you to search for crime related data in your neighborhood, almost real-time, and is totally free to use. You can setup search criteria based on your need or curiosity and can even get email notifications when events occur nearby. Just visit www.crimereports.com or download the mobile app to have it at your fingertips.
BNPD also has an official mobile app that is free to use. The app allows the user to have the ability to receive instant push notifications about criminal activity and other pertinent information that occurs in the city. It also has other features such as the ability to request a home security check or extra radar patrol, see recent crime statistics, and send an anonymous crime tip. The app can be downloaded from the Apple or Google stores.
By providing these tools, it enables residents to stay informed of what’s going on around them and it empowers them to help provide us with the information we need to deter and stop criminal activity. The overall goal of the 'Be Wary, Don't Be Scary' initiative is to encourage individuals to be safer in their driving habits and to keep criminals out of our neighborhoods. Stay safe out there.
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