Firm helps neighbors fight against crime

bob — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:14:06 +0000

from The Business Journal
A new gang is forming in Fresno. Don’t worry, though: this gang is out to deter crime, not to commit crime.
Bob Hayden, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Band of Neighbors, launched his special form of neighborhood watch in the El Dorado Park neighborhood, just west of the California State University, Fresno campus.
Gang violence, vandalism and drugs are so rampant that this area just south of the frat houses and Pete Beiden Field has become known as “Sin City”.
As of Dec. 9, the residents in that neighborhood are plugged into a telephone system that alerts participants of a crime that is in process or was already committed or of any suspicious persons lurking around.
“There are people there that are afraid,” Hayden said. “There is a lady that puts her sofa in front of the door every night to guard against intruders”.
So instead of living in fear, the residents have banded together in what Hayden good-naturedly refers to as a “gang.”
“There is safety in numbers,” he said. “Just like a gang member can’t do much by himself, neither can a resident.”
The police from the neighborhood substation, two managers of four apartments and 15 residents are part of the Band of Neighbors’ first residential call network.
The company, located at the Central Valley Business Incubator, entered into a soft launch this summer and is starting to pick up speed with support from mayor-elect Ashley Swearingen and Sam Geil of Geil Enterprises.
Hayden also started the Band of Neighbors Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is meant to help pay for the 6.99 per phone line monthly network fee some residents might not be able to afford.
“My main goal is to help members of the community or church members of the community to sponsor a phone line, pay the fee,” he said. “Community members are spending money in their own back-yard instead of somewhere outside the country. They can see the benefits if their actions by keeping track of an area and see how it is impacting the community.”
Hayden started Band of Neighbors a couple of years ago, but the idea came to him in the early-1990s after he read an old article about Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, who was stabbed to death in Queens, N.Y. in 1964 while her neighbors watched and failed to report the crime.
“They just looked out their windows thinking someone else would call,” he said.
Hayden first thought of his idea with pagers, the latest technology the early-1990s had to offer, but that didn’t quite pan out.
The system works like this: if a neighbor or merchant sees suspicious activity or just was a victim of crime, they would call up Band of Neighbors, punch in the P.I.N. and record a message. The message is then sent to everyone in the network in seconds, sending phones ringing off the hooks.
Hayden’s hope is that the alert system would cut down the time between the incident and the possible capture of the person of interest while also warning neighbors of a pending community danger.
“Residents, merchants and the police will act as a team now,” he said. “A neighborhood unified, not just one lone person, leads to less chance of fear and strength in numbers

Tainese Arceneaux Reporter can be reached at: (559) 490-3448 or
E-mail Tainese@thebusinessjournal.com