Subtitle 21 – Neighborhood Block Watch Signs

For the purposes of this subtitle, the following terms shall have the meanings listed below.

An “area” shall mean an area consisting of more than 1 block.

A “block” shall mean all of the properties on both sides of a given street existing between 2 consecutive intersecting streets.

“Household” shall mean all persons occupying a single housing unit (i.e. <em>{sic}</em> house, apartment, group of rooms, or single room intended for occupancy as separate living quarters).

“Neighborhood Block Watch block or area” shall mean a block or an area designated in an application filed pursuant to § 21-3 in which signs provided for in this subtitle may be erected.

The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore finds and declares that the threat, fear, and intimidation caused by the criminal element is one of the most compelling problems facing society today. Crime isolates people in their own homes, causing them to become suspicious of, and in some cases afraid of, their neighbors. And yet, law enforcement officials tell us that neighborhoods with little inter-residential communication are more vulnerable to crime than are those in which neighbors communicate and cooperate with each other on a regular basis.

A new kind of anti-crime program starting to take hold in neighborhoods around the City seeks to promote communication and cooperation among neighbors as an effective countermeasure to crime. This subtitle sets up a program to install signs in those neighborhoods where a Neighborhood Block Watch Program is in effect.

This subtitle should be liberally interpreted to achieve its anti-crime goals.

There is established a Neighborhood Block Watch Sign Program to promote an anti-crime posture in neighborhoods and between the neighborhoods and City officials.

This procedure shall be as follows: