Philly Program Teaches Crime Fighting While Walking The Dog
By Marcy Norton
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Dog owners can get lots of benefits from regularly walking their furry friends, like exercise and socializing. Now there's a way to use those daily walks to keep your neighborhood safe.
The program is called "Dog Walker Watch." The National Association of Town Watch runs it with the help of local law enforcement agencies.
Town Watch executive director Matt Peskin says officers conduct the hour-long training sessions, and they teach dog owners how to be more observant and how to report crime more effectively:
"The value here is that the dog walkers are out all hours of the day and night. They know their neighborhoods and if we can get them to be better reporters and observers, we're adding a lot of eyes and ears to the crime prevention effort."
He says the sessions teach dog owners what to look for:
"If someone is hanging around a car, or in the driveway of a house that maybe doesn't belong there, to try and be a little more sensitive to that, and pay attention to it."
Dog Walker Watch debuted in Old City this month, and another program is planned for next month.
To find out about sessions in your neighborhood, CLICK HERE.