neighborhood watch

American  

noun

1. a neighborhood surveillance program or group in which residents keep watch over one another's houses, patrol the streets, etc., in an attempt to prevent crime.

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Example Sentences

At Grails Miami, a sports bar in the Wynwood neighborhood, watch parties for Inter Miami games fill the venue, which has more than 70 TVs and capacity for 400 people, general manager Lea Stevenson said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

Maybe the neighborhood watch confronts you, demanding to know what you’re doing on their sidewalks.

From Salon • Oct. 2, 2025

Some residents want to form a neighborhood watch, while others are taking quotes from private security companies to patrol the streets outside their multimillion-dollar homes.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2024

Fulton has been pushing for reform since her 17-year-old son was killed in a confrontation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Florida in February 2012.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 22, 2024

On the night of February 26, 2012, Martin had engaged in an altercation with Zimmerman, who was the neighborhood watch coordinator for the Sanford, Florida, gated community in which the confrontation took place.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler