Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the origins and significance of neighborhood watch programs, which were officially established in 1972 in response to rising crime rates. The conversation highlights the nostalgic imagery associated with these programs, such as the iconic “Boris the Burglar” sign, and explores the evolution and current status of neighborhood watch initiatives across communities.

Key takeaways

• Neighborhood watch signs: the urban equivalent of ancient artifacts, hinting at a crime-fearing past.
• Boris the Burglar, the unwitting star of neighborhood watch, might just need a better career plan.
• Despite looking vigilant, neighborhood watches often lack real community ties—wearing a superhero cape without the superpowers.
• From crime deterrence to neighborhood snooping, the evolution of watch programs reflects America's shifting paranoia.
• Science says neighborhood watches can prevent crime, but can they foster community? That's a different story.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Josh Clark (Host) · 6 min speaking
• Chuck Bryant (Host) · 6 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: National Neighborhood Watch Program, Boris the Burglar, Tara Yar Legatada, Chicago school of social disorganization theory
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Boris the Burglar, USA on watch, Department of Justice
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Springfield, Missouri
4. 9:00 – 12:00: George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, Next Door
5. 12:00 – 12:44: iHeart Radio

Notable quotes from "Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"

• Yeah. I think one of the things that fascinates me about this and why I picked this one and also thanks to Tara Yar Legatada and Adoya Johnson. the first from How Stuff Works…

  about Tara Yar Legatada · at 0:51

• Thank you, Led Gas. again, the National Neighborhood Watch Program is the official name and that's under the umbrella of the National Sheriff's Association and it's a national organization in that they have guidelines. You can get some.

  about National Sheriff's Association · at 1:42

• Cops come and then the burglar Boris the burglar is thwarted. And all of this is kind of based on what's called the Chicago school of social disorganization theory. It's a…

  about Chicago school of social disorganization theory · at 2:39

• Yeah. where they're Hey, not only should you just be looking out for Boris the burglar, but you should be looking out for terrorists in your neighborhood. but that grant ran.

  about Boris the Burglar · at 3:34

• Photographing the family and digitally audio recording them and monitoring their movements. that has happened in Springfield, Missouri. the clan set up a neighborhood watch and…

  about Springfield, Missouri · at 8:35

• Talked about different crimes that were committed. of course, the most obvious is when George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Stanford, Florida in 2012.

  about George Zimmerman · at 9:47

• In your neighborhood and want to be on the up and do it the right way, you can go to that National Neighborhood Watch website and get officially registered. they will have some resources to kind of guide you along. but again, do it do.

  about National Neighborhood Watch Program · at 11:40

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• George Zimmerman — Person · Cautionary example (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 9:52
  Used as the most prominent example of Neighborhood Watch-associated vigilantism escalating to lethal violence.
• Trayvon Martin — Person · Victim in referenced incident · 1 mention · first at 9:54
  Referenced to illustrate the potential harms of vigilante behavior and racial bias associated with informal neighborhood surveillance.
  Were committed. of course, the most obvious is when George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Stanford, Florida in 2012.
• Tara Yar Legatada — Person · Research contributor (credited) · 2 mentions · first at 0:54
  Josh credits Tara as a source/research support for the episode’s information about Neighborhood Watch history and details.
• Adoya Johnson — Person · Referenced expert / contributor (credited) · 1 mention · first at 0:57
  Credited alongside Tara; identified as affiliated with Howard University School of Law, suggesting legal expertise informing the episode’s framing of risks/oversight.
  Fascinates me about this and why I picked this one and also thanks to Tara Yar Legatada and Adoya Johnson. the first from How Stuff Works, the latter from the Howard University…

Companies & orgs

• National Neighborhood Watch Program — Company · Core topic / referenced organization · 2 mentions · first at 0:25
  The episode explains what the official Neighborhood Watch program is, its origins (1972), how it operates, and criticisms about oversight and vigilante misuse.
• National Sheriff's Association — Company · Parent/umbrella organization (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 1:48
  Identified as the umbrella under which the National Neighborhood Watch Program sits, shaping governance and the limits of oversight.
• iHeart Radio — Company · Publisher/distributor (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 12:24
  Identified as the production company behind Stuff You Should Know, providing distribution channels for the podcast.
  Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Products & tech

• Next Door — Product · Modern alternative mechanism (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 11:13
  Discussed as a contemporary platform through which informal neighborhood monitoring and reporting now occurs, sometimes producing extreme or biased posts.
  Yeah. if you want to read some crazy offthechain stuff like go on to Next Door, it can be pretty entertaining.

Concepts & topics

• Chicago school of social disorganization theory — Concept · Referenced theoretical foundation · 1 mention · first at 2:45
  Presented as the sociological basis for why Neighborhood Watch might reduce crime by increasing informal social control and reducing offender confidence.
• USA on watch — Concept · Rebranding initiative (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 3:31
  Described as a post-9/11 rebrand encouraging residents to watch for terrorists, criticized as shifting from safety to neighbor-spying.
  Yeah. where they're Hey, not only should you just be looking out for Boris the burglar, but you should be looking out for terrorists in your neighborhood. but that grant ran out and they said, yeah, maybe we should just stick to being a.

Places & events

• Springfield, Missouri — Place · Example location (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 8:40
  Cited as a place where a racist group allegedly set up a 'neighborhood watch,' demonstrating how the concept can be abused.

Media & podcasts

• Boris the Burglar — Character · Icon/mascot used to explain topic · 3 mentions · first at 0:43
  The hosts identify the silhouette on Neighborhood Watch signs as a named character, using him as a recurring shorthand for burglary deterrence.

Sponsors

• Department of Justice — Company · Government funder (referenced) · 1 mention · first at 3:26
  The DOJ is cited as providing a post-9/11 grant that enabled rebranding Neighborhood Watch as 'USA on watch,' linking the program to counterterrorism-era surveillance concerns.
  Yeah, that's right. we should mention kind of briefly that for a little while after 911, the NSA got a grant from the Department of Justice where they rebranded as USA on watch.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:04 Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and this is short stuff because Jerry's here for Dave and uh we're talking about the neighborhood watch. So look out.

0:13 That's right. Uh I think the the fact of this podcast is right off the bat. Yep.

0:19 Uh because if you've ever seen a neighborhood watch like the official neighborhood watch sign as in the uh National Neighborhood Watch program official organization. If you've ever seen that sign and that that uh I was going to say silhouetted, but it's really just sort of a kind of a cartoony black figure on those orange and white signs. It looks very much like a film noir villain.

0:41 Mhm. That guy actually kind of peering back over his shoulder. That dude has a name and it's Boris the Burglar.

0:47 Yep. Very good. Nice little trivia uh point. Yeah. I think one of the things that fascinates me about this and why I picked this one and also thanks to Tara Yar Legatada and Adoya Johnson. Uh the first from How Stuff Works, the latter from the Howard University School of Law. Um but like when I see signs like that, they seem like um like a urban archaeological find because they're from the 70s, the very early 70s and sometimes in an old neighborhood. And you know, Atlanta's chalk full of old neighborhoods. You can tell that sign was put up in 1972. Yeah.

1:23 And that neighborhood watch probably hasn't functioned for 40 years, you know. Um, and I just find that super fascinating. So, because of that fascination, I've dragged us into the discussion about neighborhood watch as it is.

1:36 That's right. Uh, which was formed officially in 1972 after a rise in crime in the late60s.

1:42 Thank you, Led Gas. Uh again, the National Neighborhood Watch Program is the official name and that's under the umbrella of the National Sheriff's Association and it's a national organization in that they have guidelines. You can get some information and pamphlets on kind of how to run one in your neighborhood. Although, uh we'll see that um kind of depends on your neighborhood what you want to do with this program.

2:05 Sure. Um but they don't they don't like there are way too many neighborhood watch programs um you know local ones for them to really be involved in matter on a national level. It's just sort of the umbrella organization.

2:17 Yeah. Which can be a criticism as we'll see. But the whole idea is basically you can the cops can get an assist from people who are kind of looking for um problems in their neighborhood or at the very least are on enough lookout that when it happens they notice it, right? They don't just walk right past it. And then you can call the cops and then the cops come and then the burglar Boris the burglar is thwarted. And all of this is kind of based on what's called the Chicago school of social disorganization theory. It's a sociological theory from the 20s and the 30s which basically says if you have a neighborhood that doesn't have very strong social ties, so neighbors don't really know each other that well, they don't trust each other that well,

2:59 and very little community control where people feel very confident about just committing crimes, that's the that's the most vulnerable kind of neighborhood. Yeah. And so a neighborhood watch essentially is meant to at least take care of the second one where it's like you, you know, we're going to make sure you don't feel confident about committing crime, but it doesn't necessarily fulfill the first one, which is to bring communities together.

3:22 Yeah, that's right. Uh we should mention kind of briefly that for a little while after uh 911, uh the NSA got a grant from the Department of Justice where they rebranded as USA on watch.

3:34 Yeah. where they're like, "Hey, uh, not only should you just be looking out for Boris the burglar, but you should be looking out for terrorists in your neighborhood." Uh, but that grant ran out and they said, "Uh, yeah, maybe we should just stick to being a neighborhood watch."

3:48 Yeah. It went from keeping an eye on your neighborhood to spying on your neighbors, I think, was essentially the spirit of it.

3:54 Yeah. It's pretty great. Remember this? This was the era when the postal um workers, the mail carriers, were expected to spy on everyone.

4:02 Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was a very paranoid time. Understandably so. It was a really rough time for the United States.

4:09 Yeah. Some some would say there was a privacy grab that happened. Oh, I hadn't thought about that.

4:15 Or or a you know a lack of privacy grab, I guess. No, I get I get what you mean. An intrus an intrusive intrusion.

4:24 Yeah. Let's take a break. We're saying it just right. Yeah. Right. Let's take a break, man. and we'll come back and talk about whether these things actually prevent crime in the first place.

4:34 All right, we'll be right back. So, Chuck, the idea of a neighborhood watch makes sense, but not everything that is intuitively right actually pans out when put under scientific scrutiny. It turns out neighborhood watch programs do hold up under scientific scrutiny. At least one study from all the way back in 2006, not a lot of studies about neighborhood watch programs apparently. They found 18 other studies and 15 of those showed that neighborhood watch programs seem to um prevent crime. Like the like the neighborhood watch program came along and a decline in crime happened afterward. So, it does seem like they can prevent crime. They don't necessarily um thwart crime in progress, I guess. Yeah, I mean they will tell you and proponents of the program will say like, "Hey, just having that sign up in your neighborhood is going to prevent crime somewhat because you know if a a near do well sees that

5:54 you're under neighborhood watch, they'll just move on to another neighborhood."

5:58 Uh yeah, I don't know about that, but that's what they say. Well, it makes sense. Like especially a a nonprofessional who's just like, I I'm going to break into houses, they that might give them a second thought. So

6:10 even if it prevents one burglary, it's a crime deterrent. Sure. Uh if you want to organize one of these things, you can uh recruit people and get together. You can schedule some meetings. Um you can get some local law enforcement in there maybe to come to one of those meetings and kind of discuss how these things go. Uh if you're like a really button-down neighborhood watch group, you might have an actual liaison with law enforcement. You might have a group coordinator and block captains and stuff like that. They might have sashes in the wellunded neighborhood watch group.

6:42 They might they might even have patrols. Um and this is where it can get a little dodgy.

6:47 Yeah. Uh because there have been plenty of instances uh in the United States where these things have turned from sort of neighborhood watch where you see something and you maybe call the cops uh to people kind of acting on their own vigilante style.

7:02 Yeah. uh or people on their own calling the cops just because uh someone is guilty of uh you know being a person of color in their neighborhood. That certainly happens all the time.

7:12 Yeah, it does. Um so you talked about a lack of oversight and the fact that they the national um neighborhood watch association just doesn't they they can't possibly keep up with them. think there's something like uh

7:26 28,000 neighborhood watch groups that are registered right now and probably a lot of them are defunct, but there's still that's way too many for this probably just paper thin funded organization um to keep up with. So they're just like, hey, you know, they register with us and we tell them best practices, but if they turn into vigilante groups, we don't know about it. It has nothing to do with us. Some people are like, I don't know if that's true. you're actually encouraging the formation of these groups in the first place. You can make an argument that a neighborhood would come up with their own concept of a neighborhood watch anyway probably.

8:02 Right? So, it does seem like the National Neighborhood Watch Association is probably fairly at least not guilty. Their hands aren't dirty, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. But even still, they're quite aware that some of these neighborhood watch groups, whether they're registered or not, do evolve into vigilante groups.

8:19 Yeah. I mean, I think nationally their aim is pure, but uh then when you get the wrong neighborhood and wrong group of people, uh like happened here in the state of Georgia, uh you might have a neighborhood watch group targeting a family that they don't like being there, uh and sitting outside their house and digging through their trash and photographing the family and digitally uh audio recording them and monitoring their movements. Um that has happened uh in Springfield, Missouri. the uh the clan set up a neighborhood watch and had signs saying neighborhood watch you can sleep tonight knowing the clan is awake.

8:53 Other Yeah. Other we talked about wellunded groups too. Some of them will use police scanners. Some of them even have invested um those flashing dome lights like all a naked gun.

9:03 Oh yeah. Or police squad um for their cars when they're going to respond to a report.

9:10 Yeah. You're not a cop. No. This is your neighbor who works in it during the day and frankly drinks one or two beers too many each night, right?

9:20 Showing up with a flashing light at your front door because your neighbor across the street thought that you were doing something suspicious or somebody was doing something suspicious at your house. Yeah, that is not okay under basically any circumstance. Again, like you said, the concept is pure. it it gets perverted way too easily because it gives power to the people who want the power because those are the ones very often who volunteer for this stuff.

9:45 Yeah, for sure. Uh and you know, I talked about different um uh crimes that were committed. Uh, of course, the most obvious is when George Zimmerman uh killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Stanford, Florida in 2012. And Zimmerman um you know, supposedly was a neighborhood watch volunteer. And uh I think their neighborhood watch was not one of the official uh under the national neighborhood watch.

10:09 Uhhuh. At least the National Neighborhood Watch was like, "Nuhuh. They weren't us,

10:12 right?" Um but that's how far it can go. So, you know, we want to keep our neighborhood safe, but settle down,

10:19 man. That was a seems like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Yeah, man. It Yeah, that's it was sort of I mean, what 2012? How many years ago is that?

10:28 13. Yeah. Yep. Right on the nose. Um, so there is uh, yeah, there's nothing inherently wrong with keeping an eye on your neighborhood, especially if it helps you meet some of your neighbors and you guys work together to prevent people from breaking into your homes or selling drugs on your street or whatever. Like I I it's totally understandable. Um, it seems like according to the National Neighborhood Watch Association that the the kind of the steps that they've laid out since 1972 are not necessarily followed. But that doesn't mean that groups are just not forming. They're forming in other ways. Yeah.

11:05 Through like um text chains like um you know, neighborhood text threads. There a lot of neighborhoods have Facebook pages. Yeah.

11:13 Um Next Door is a big one. Yeah. Um Yeah. if you want to read some crazy offthechain stuff like go on to Next Door, it can be pretty entertaining.

11:23 And then Ring, which um is that that camera video doorbell, the first one I think now is owned by Amazon. Uh they partner with law enforcement and they're really doing their best to fill in the gaps uh in the police state.

11:35 Yeah. Uh, and if you're um if you want to get one of these started in your neighborhood and want to be on the up and up and do it the right way, uh, you can go to that National Neighborhood Watch website and get officially registered. Uh, they will have some resources to kind of guide you along. Uh, but again, you know, do it do it the right way. Um, it's not a crime to just be in your neighborhood. And you see plenty of uh you know videos every day on social media where uh somebody you know sometimes someone that does live in that neighborhood is even accosted because they're a person of color who dares to park in their own driveway and walk to their own front door.

12:12 That has happened before. Yeah. Uh yeah, I think uh well jeez Chuck short stuff's out on that bomber note.

12:19 I think so. Okay. Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

Josh Clark (Host), Chuck Bryant (Host).

What is "Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW" about?

The discussion centers on the origins and significance of neighborhood watch programs, which were officially established in 1972 in response to rising crime rates. The conversation highlights the nostalgic imagery associated with these programs, such as the iconic “Boris the Burglar” sign, and explores the evolution and current status of neighborhood watch initiatives across communities.

What is mentioned in this Stuff You Should Know episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including National Neighborhood Watch Program, National Sheriff's Association, Chicago school of social disorganization theory, George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, Boris the Burglar. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Short Stuff: Neighborhood Watch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW"?

The episode runs 13 min; the transcript is about 2,326 words in 45 timestamped sections.

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