Topics brought up during the gathering at Lilian Dickson Park included routine nuisance complaints such as speeding vehicles and tall grass. However, members of the Jamestown Police Department and city Department of Development also heard from nearby residents of problem youth, drug transactions and suspicious activity at the Falconer Street park.

Some residents questioned the time it takes officers to respond to various complaints. In response, Police Chief Timothy Jackson said an officer always will respond, though he noted that it could take up to a day depending on the volume of calls and the severity of the problem.

One resident commented that neighbors could do more to assist the police department.

“Officers only have so much they can do,” the woman said during Wednesday’s meeting. “The community itself also has to be involved in doing things as well. … Everybody wants a solution from the officers. When does the community step in and take responsibility as well?”

A neighborhood watch sign is pictured on Sturges Street in Jamestown. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Before serving on the Jamestown City Council, Kim Ecklund was involved in the formation of the Citizen-Police Neighborhood Watch Coalition, an organization designed to facilitate partnerships between the neighborhood watch groups, the police and fire departments and the city Department of Development.

Ecklund said the coalition “grew tremendously,” with about 30 citywide neighborhood watch groups at its height. She said the coalition also received excellence awards from the state Attorney General’s Office.

But the number of groups began to drop, and eventually the coalition became defunct. One possible reason, Ecklund said, is that there are more renters in Jamestown than homeowners.

“Getting those renters to become a part of that neighborhood, if they’re not going to stay there, is very tough,” she said. “You have the transient renters that are not here all the time.”

She added, “Those that are vested, whether you’re renting or owned, if you’re a permanent part, you need to get together and become that neighborhood watch.”

Ecklund believes the coalition became defunct because many of the issues that resulted in neighborhood watch groups forming were addressed.

“And then they’ll regroup a little bit when the issues come back, but by then they’ve had their own way of communicating,” she continued. “So the coalition has kind of fallen apart because nobody wants to take the leadership because people are afraid.”

Ecklund encouraged those in attendance to form neighborhood watch groups, which she said can be as simple as several people looking out for one another through group text messages or Facebook Messenger. The groups also will help foster communication and engagement between neighbors.

“To take an immediate step, honestly, I would encourage that we try to reinvent neighborhood watch,” she said.

Capt. Scott Forster said neighborhood watch can work together and relay public safety concerns to the Jamestown Police Department. He said there are no active groups, but the department has tried to re-boot the program without much success.

“I think that is going to help because we can have a group of people all seeing the same issue,” he said. “I think it’s a lot easier to identify the problem and address the problems.”

In June, Mayor Eddie Sundquist launched Safer Jamestown N.O.W. — Neighbors on Watch — an effort to get the community more involved with policing. Among its goals is to re-establish neighborhood watch groups.

“We as a city can and will do better and, focusing with Safer Jamestown N.O.W., we are committed to community-focused policing with residents and police working together to make our neighborhoods safer,” Sundquist said last month. “By empowering our community, and giving them the resources to do more, we can make Jamestown a safer place now.”

Wednesday’s gathering at Lilian Dickson Park was the second of four forums hosted by the Jamestown Police Department and city Department of Development. The third community meeting took place Thursday at Jackson-Taylor Park, with the last one planned for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, at Bergman Park.

The forums have been organized in response to state funding the county and JPD received for being part of New York’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative.