Frequently Asked Questions

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General Information (6)

Who are you?
We are a citizen watch group put together to deter, reduce, and prevent crime in the Antelope Acres.
What do you do?
We deter, reduce, and prevent crime in the Antelope Acres, through active observation and continual presence of our members.
Why were you formed?
Acres Watch was developed to fill the need for a local community-based watch effort for the Antelope Acres, CA community. Petty crime has been on the rise, including mailbox destruction and mail theft, burglary, general theft, and other crimes that could be alleviated or completely prevented by a quality neighborhood program.
Are you affiliated with the Antelope Acres Town Council?
No. The Town Council has failed multiple times in organizing and running a community watch program. Their website hasn't been updated in 3 years. We have no faith that the Town Council can run an effective neighborhood watch.
Are you affiliated with the LASD or other law enforcement?
No. Law enforcement community watch programs often fail because they are loaded with bureaucracy and red tape. That is the only way government organizations know how to operate, and the same bureaucratic nonsense is brought to the community watch programs. They are more concerned with titles, ranks, and insignia than they are the actual protection of the community. You need Block Captains, Block Captain Captains, Area Captains, Area Commanders, Community Watch Sergeants and Liutenants. WTF? How do titles, ranks, and insignia help protect the community? They are too concerned with useless training, meetings, ice cream socials (no joke!), and other nonsense instead of focusing on actual crime.
How can your group deter crime?
It's simple. Criminals do not like when people are around. Criminals do not like when people are watching. We do both. We patrol our community on a regular basis, and make our presence known to those who might look to commit crimes in our community. And if they do commit crimes, we are able to observe and report quickly and efficiently due to our extensive communications network.

Operations (3)

How do you communicate?
The backbone of our communications system is our extensive radio network used to communicate between all members of our group. Our system repeater has excellent wide-area coverage throughout Antelope Acres, and our tactical channels offer crystal-clear close-range communications.
It's 2019! Why are you still using radios?
Why do the police not use Facebook and cell phones to communicate between their officers? The fact of the matter is radios are the absolute most effective means of communication for an operation like this. Facebook, Twitter, email lists, and phone trees do not work. Have you ever been able to easily and instantaneously have a conference call with 100 people at once? Either have we. With radios, you have a virtually unlimited number of people who can communicate at once.
Do you use FRS/GMRS/MURS radios?
FRS/GMRS/MURS, like most groups use for communications, are subject to massive amounts of interference. Kids use them for walkie talkies, and anyone can easily buy a $30 radio from Wal-Mart and interfere with your operations. It has become like the CB Radio Band. GMRS also requires all operators (or families) to have a GMRS license from the FCC. Such radios are also limited in power.

We operate on a multitude of frequencies in the Land Mobile Radio Service that are specifically licensed to us. Interference from outside parties is non-existant, and because we operate on digital modes, along with battery consumption savings, our transmissions are far more difficult to monitor using a scanner, cannot be monitored with FRS/GMRS/MURS radios, and we can utilize up to AES-256 bit rolling encryption to make our transmissions completely unable to be monitored. This keeps the interference down, and keeps the bad guys from monitoring our transmissions.

Participation (5)

What do I need to do to participate?
Nothing. Well...nothing outside of your normal daily routine is required. While some individuals or small groups will take up dedicated patrols, the key to a successful neighborhood watch program is simply creating a presence. By simply going about your daily routine, walking, driving, etc., the presence alone will help to deter crime, and reporting anything suspicious via the radio network will keep the other members informed. If you are driving home at night, you might want to take an extra 5 or 10 minutes and cover a few blocks around your home before calling it a night. The point is really that participation in the group is up to each individual. There is no required level of participation, except to report and inform.
Do I need to attend meetings or ice cream socials?
Absolutely not! By far the biggest killer of neighborhood watch groups is scheduled meetings, ice cream socials, pancake breakfasts, etc. Nobody has time for that, nor do people want to go to meetings to participate in the group.

Of course, we would like members to check in to our forum and participate with the group, but there is certainly no requirement to do so. We also hold a weekly radio net on our repeater system. The idea behind the net is not to have a formal meeting, rather it is meant to give our members the opportunity to test their radio equipment, make sure it is working, batteries are charged, etc. A radio is useless if you don't practice using it!
Do I need to purchase a radio? What is the cost?
Yes. While we have a phone system interlinked with our radio system, our primary means of communication is our repeater system and radio network. We do not use FRS/GMRS, MURS, or CB Radio (which are more like toys than anything else). We use commercial Part 90 FCC certified radios. Accordinly the cost of some radios can be extremely expensive, however the cheapest that are compatible with our system can be found for around $60, which is equivalent to some higher quality bubble pack radios from Wal-Mart or such.

You can purchase the radio(s) yourself, after of course assuring they are compatible with our system, or purchase them through the group. The only difference is that if they are purchased through the group, we can program them to our system prior to giving you the radio. If you purchase it yourself, you will need to program the radio yourself (detailed instructions are available to members), or bring it to somebody who knows how to program the radio. There is no cost difference between the methods. The goal is to get people radios, not make money. We are a 100% volunteer non-profit organization.

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Acres Watch - Anelope Acres, CA