BRUNO — The Town of Bruno is gauging interest to see if there is a desire and enough volunteers to create a neighborhood watch program.
Colette Radcliffe, Bruno’s administrator, said the program would likely entail volunteers that would take a shift to walk or drive around town to keep an eye out for any “suspicious activity” and report to the authorities.
This is following multiple instances of vandalism including signs, the community bulletin board as well as storefronts on Main Street.
“There have been some requests from the residents,” Radcliffe said.
“Right now we’re just putting our feelers out, seeing what the town thinks, seeing what residents think. We haven’t given it a whole lot of discussion.”
She said what specifically the program would look like will be discussed at the Sept. 21 council meeting, as is how much interest would be considered sufficient to proceed.
To advertise the potential program, on Aug. 24 the town put out a Facebook poll and post, asking “Does Bruno need a neighbourhood watch program?” and “Are you willing to volunteer some time towards the program?”
As of Sept. 1, they received about a dozen respondents. Of the respondents, about 75 per cent answered “yes” to needing a neighbourhood watch program, while only about 20 per cent answered that they were willing to volunteer some time towards the program.
To reach residents without access to social media, Radcliffe said the town also put a section on the topic in their September newsletter.
“A lot of our residents – the elderly don’t even have Facebook. So there haven’t been a lot of feedback so far. We’re hoping with the little messages and newsletter we will get more.”
If a resident wishes to give feedback, they are encouraged to contact the Bruno town office at 306-369-2514.
