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In response to recent shootings, local citizens are being invited to team up with members of the Asbury Park Police Department to create neighborhood watch groups.

Officer Michael Casey is the lead member of the police department working to help establish the groups.

Local citizens and police met for the third time in council chambers last week [photo above] to further discuss concerns and ideas related to forming the watches.

“Chief [Kinmon] asked me to reach out to a group of residents to get the word out a couple months ago and it was unsuccessful,” said Casey [standing in photo].

Shortly after the unsuccessful attempt, Tom Gilmour, the city’s director of commerce and economic development, called Casey.

“He said we need to do something,” said Casey.

“Someone cut the window to my Jeep,” Gilmour said. Gilmour drives a Jeep Wrangler which can be outfitted with a “soft top” material similar to thick plastic. Someone cut the plastic in order to gain entry to the vehicle. That was when Gilmour had enough, he said.

Gilmour’s involvement in the city and his access to the city’s electronic sign on Main Street in Sunset Park allowed Casey the means to advertise meetings centered around the genesis of forming the groups. It worked – people started showing up, Casey said.

During the initial meeting those in attendance spoke about websites, supplies and materials, Casey said.

“We don’t have a budget so Betsy [Olds], a local citizen interested in the emergence of watch groups, looked on the internet and came up with this website,” he said, holding up a piece of literature from the National Neighborhood Watch Institute (NNWI).

The website describes itself as “the premier national supplier of neighborhood watch materials.” The resources include literature, starter kits, signs and other items necessary to start neighborhood watch groups.

There is no dedicated phone line in police headquarters set up for the groups to call, and the program does not have a dedicated source for funding yet, Casey said.

“I’m sure through our finance department if we got a check we would be able to funnel it to some type of fund to distribute to the neighborhood watch,” he said.

Since the group that seeks to organize the watches does not currently have a budget, Pat Fasano [standing at right in photo], owner of Bond Street Bar and Grill, spent $200 of his own money to purchase a neighborhood watch starter kit from the site.

“The starter kit was $50 and then I started us off with some signs,” Fasano said. He purchased five large “blue eye” warning signs and four smaller signs from the NNWI website.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m a sport. We live here, I live her with my son and my other son lives on 4th Avenue so we’re here. I barely leave Asbury Park,” he said.

“I’m happy to get it for people if they are gonna actually help these guys,” Fasano said, giving a nod to Officer Casey, Captain David Kelso and Lieutenant Guy Thompson, three members of the police department who will work closely with the watch groups.

“Communication, education and awareness,” are some of the projected goals of forming the watches, according to Casey.

The next step in the process is to find people who live in the city to step up and be block captains within their own neighborhoods, Casey said.

“What a block captain would do is, he or she would be in charge of not necessarily a block but maybe several blocks in a certain area or section of town. The people that live in that section report to them because we don’t need 50 to 60 phone calls a day telling us about the same incident or 50 different incidents,” Casey said.

It is too early to say which neighborhoods in the city will participate in the creation of their own watch group. Anyone interested can reach out directly to Casey.

“If you see something you gotta say something,” Fasano said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Anyone who would like to get involved in the Asbury Park neighborhood watch can call Officer Mike Casey at 732-775-6124, or email Michael.Casey@cityofasburypark.com.

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