RPV NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

Background and Organization

BEGINNING The RPV Neighborhood Watch program began in 1991 when I was ending a 2-term commission
position with the City. LASD Captain Bill Mangan and the Mayor at that time, asked me to start a
Neighborhood Watch for 2 reasons: (1) The city was experiencing greater crime right after the L.A. riots. (2)
The City and the Sheriff’s Dept. needed better communication and liaison with the residents.

MANAGEMENT OF PROGRAM The program was set up as a separate organization so as not to be influenced
by City politics. The success of the program should be attributed to the dedication and support of our
hundreds of volunteers, the residents, and the support of the Sheriff’s Dept. The program was set up as a
system of "reporting areas", which included several NW reporting areas within the Sheriff's Dept. reporting
districts (RD’s). The system consists of 55 Area Coordinators (who report to me), and some 450 Block Captains
(who report to Area Coordinators). Currently, approximately 95% of the single-family streets are in the
program. We do not network to individuals - only through Block Captains, as the primary goal of NW is to
"work with neighbors to fight crime". We do not allow our network to be used for any commercial or political
purposes - only for crime, public safety and quality-of-life issues. We have been told that our NW program is
the largest and longest running program in L.A. County. Some 60% of our Block Captains have been doing
their jobs for at least 15 years. Our network system is excellent because we can disseminate information
quickly, and can also track and network suspicious persons, incidents, and illegal solicitors wherever they are
in the city. Our office is open from 7 AM to Midnight, 7 days a week. I do not have a Smart Phone as it would
be useless for the number of people I network with. I use 3 computers. My primary computer includes 73
separate e-mail address groups. Another computer keeps a strictly Confidential block list of over 11,000
homes. And the third is a small computer I use when I’m not home.

INTERACTION WITH SHERIFF'S DEPT. NW networks all crimes to Area Coordinators and Block Captains based
on the Sheriff’s Dept. weekly reports or reports by residents. (In reality, most crimes are already networked
by the Area Coordinators as soon as they learn about them.) We never network exact addresses. Any
information I receive from residents (tips, license plates, photos) is sent directly to the Sheriff's Dept. I send
out many Crime Bulletins, which encompass every crime situation within the city that I know about, and how
to prevent them. All Crime Bulletins are authorized by the Sheriff’s Dept. before sending. Anytime the
Sheriff's Dept. wants something networked, I can target the information to individual persons, streets, areas,
sections of the city, or the whole city. It takes me 3 minutes to network to the 222 Hawthorne Corridor Block
Captains, and 5 minutes to network to every Block Captain in the city. I am very careful to send out
only authorized information – not rumors, not second-hand information, not un-vetted social media. NW
does not use social media for many reasons, including maintaining the integrity of our organization. I keep a
daily timesheet for the Sheriff's Dept. So far I have reported 39,765 hours through December of last year,
which does not include some years after 1991, when I first began working with the Sheriff’s Dept.

FINANCIAL Unlike other Neighborhood Watch groups, which are supported financially by their city or law
enforcement agency, RPV Neighborhood Watch is managed by volunteers and is totally self-supported by
voluntary $5 donations. The only cost to the city is depositing our donations, reimbursing our expenses, and
installing a few signs. All other costs are borne by the NW organization through voluntary contributions.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (EP) Shortly after 9-11, we held a gathering of city leaders – school, City,
amateur radio, CERT (then PERT), LASD, and LA County Fire Dept. to discuss an emergency preparedness
program for the City. A program was set up with the help, guidance, and approval of the L. A. County Fire
Battalion Chief. This is a hands-on program organized using the NIMS command structure, which is essentially
the same as our NW program, with EP Block Captains over teams for Assessment, Communication (working
with amateur radio), and Special Needs (Medical, Elderly/Disabled, non-English, etc.). NW provides all forms
on Household Resources and Skills, Job Descriptions, and agendas for the one-hour annual drills that we ask
the EP Block Captains to hold. We encourage people to take the CERT and amateur radio training. Every year
since 2008 I have sent out an in-depth 6 to 8-week tutorial series of earthquake safety information to all NW
members. We highly support and recruit many RPV residents into the PVP CERT programs. We also work
closely with PVAN, the Peninsula Volunteer Alert Network.

I have given out EP tutorial information through CLEPP to other LASD agencies. The City of Malibu posted our
8-week series on their website for 2 years.

TRAINING I have had the following training during the last 27 years.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

1. Member of LASD CLEPP (Community Law Enforcement Partnership Program), attended monthly
meetings and trainings since 1992 until its demise.

2. Member of CCPOA (California Crime Prevention Officers Assn.) Active member from 1992 to 2015.
Attended most meetings and annual conferences. During this time, I took many POST-accredited
courses. (Police Officer Standard Training)

3. Attended every LASD RCPI (Regional Community Policing Institute) training offered during the years

4. Graduate of 1999, 13-week LASD Community Academy Training at Carson Sheriff’s Dept.

5. Attended Supervisor Don Knabe’s annual Community Protection Conferences at College Hospital,
taught by high level, mostly FBI individuals.

6. Have attended every annual Training Conference for LASD Volunteers at the Sheriff’s Dept.
Academy.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS Besides many LASD EP training courses I have taken the following:

1. Charter member (Associate) since 2008 of California Earthquake Authority (CEA) based at Cal Tech.
Took full train-the-trainers courses. I update the training every year and send out annually to the
residents a 6 week series tutorial on earthquake survival. I am also beginning wildfire education
since our peninsula is very vulnerable to wild fires. .

2. NIMS (National Incident Management Systems) ICS-200 and IS-800 Training programs.

3. The Governor’s 3-day conference in 2005 on Terrorism.

5. CERT Graduate 2009. Board Member - PVP CERT program for 2 years.

6. I have spoken to the Emergency Preparedness Committee on 4 different occasions as well as the
City Council.

AWARDS Besides 14 awards from LASD, including 3 from an L.A. County Sheriff, I have received the following
awards.

1996 Medal of Honor for Volunteer of the year, Palos Verdes Lions Club

1997 Award for Exemplary service and Outstanding Achievement to the community (in City Category)
by the Carson Companies.

1997 California State Assembly - Certificate of Recognition for Receiving the Dominguez Brand Award
for City Government.

2001 CPOA (California Police Officers Ass'n.) Award for Contributions and Dedication to Public Safety
and the Law Enforcement Profession.

2006 Proclamation from the City Council of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes for “founding and
organizing the Rancho Palos Verdes Neighborhood Watch Program and providing outstanding
leadership for this grassroots volunteer organization”.

2006 National Sheriff's Ass'n. and Dept. of Justice Assistance. The second ever award as the “Most
Exemplary Neighborhood Watch in the US” - not only for our Neighborhood Watch program, but
for our Emergency Preparedness Program, which we have shared with other jurisdictions. They
covered the trip to Fort Lauderdale for both my husband and me to receive the award from the
head of the Dept. of Justice Assistance.

2008 I was invited by the Dept. of Justice Assistance to the first National Watch Program in Lexington,
Ky. The purpose of this table-top conference was to brainstorm on how each of our disciplines
could contribute to protection from terrorism. One person from different disciplines and sectors
in the U.S. represented and shared information. I represented Neighborhood Watch for the
entire U.S. Other agencies represented were heads of such entities as marijuana law
enforcement in Kansas, truck drivers, real estate agents, boaters, Coast Guard, universities,
transportation etc. I was the only volunteer.

2011 Woman of the Year nominee from Assemblywoman, Bonnie Lowenthal.

Jan 14, 2017