Tactical Neighborhood Watch - Security and Self-sufficiency following a Life Altering Event (SHTF)

Form a Neighborhood watch then create an inner-circle of trusted neighbors to form a security team in the event of a LAE.


NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH PROGRAM (NWP)

A NWP is a well-known program that increases situational awareness among a community to prevent crime.

Talk to your neighbors and recruit interest. Coordinate with local law enforcement (LE). Identify concerns, crime trends, and security issues. Create an action plan and ensure neighbors know when to call police and when to notify fellow neighbors. Create a communication plan such as an email chain or private social media group. Texting and calling could be appropriate in smaller neighborhoods. Set quarterly meetings. Learn routine activity and behaviors in your area to discern abnormalities such as an unknown car parked on the side of street.

NEIGHBORHOOD EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (NERT)

A NERT is a group of trained citizens in specific communities that partner with emergency personnel in the event of a crisis (training is natural disaster relevant).

Take the course and consider embedding into a team. It will allow you to receive access to information, gear, training events, and increase evacuation and recovery efforts.

TACTICAL NEIGHBORHOOD TEAMS (TNT)

This is an inner-circle of trusted neighbors who coordinate together to quickly respond to community threats and provide ongoing defensive measures following a LAE (widespread civil unrest, depleted LE, foreign invasion, societal collapse, etc).

Recruit potential members by forming a baseline by first developing relationships through NWP/NERT (or friendly over-the-fence conversations). Approach the topic with caution and tact. Reveal their believes, ideologies, and trustworthiness to determine if they would be a good fit. Plan for the formation of a team that not only can defend your community but also aid in other shortcomings and long-term needs such as communication, water/food procurement, etc.

The goal is to survive the LAE until order can be reestablished or the situation stabilizes. Bugging out should always be a consideration but in most cases, home is the safest location to be.

Identify Capabilities and add members that can contribute -
□ Defense (tactical training such as military/LE)
□ Defense (owns firearms, can confidently use then, or is willing to)
□ Communications/Tech (knows radios [GMRS/Ham], knowledge/access to OSINT and LE sources to share intel of emerging threats in area)
□ Location (their house provides ideal vantage points or fallback Defense capabilities)
□ Skills (gardening, sewing, hunting)
□ Medical (nurse, doctor, EMT, first-aid)

Assign Duties and Response Plans, Prepare -
□ Create a primary (group text, app messaging) and contingency commo plan (radios, flashlight signaling).
□ Create a contact list and mark roles (Defense team, comms team, medical team, etc)
□ Identify current resources and address gaps (vehicles, fuel, generators, shelf stable foods, water purification systems, firearms and ammo, medical supplies and medications, gear [binoculars, night vision], etc)
□ Assign rotational security guards (houses whose duties are to stay up at night an conduct roving patrol, man entry points to neighborhood)
□ Fortify road entrances, houses (windows/doors).
□ Identify vulnerabilities then address (woodline footpaths, trouble neighbors, lack of certain skillsets in team, food shortages, etc)
□ Create a quick reaction team and contact them in the event of a breach or security threat.
□ Plan forward deployment operations to retrieve supplies, scavenge, barter, and coordinate with outside sources. 


This article is part of a larger series of home defense lessons found in our Hip Pocket Brief book.