CORRIN, Neb. — The Prairie Lane Neighborhood Watch has documented 61 instances of suspicious activity since July, all of them involving a group of adults walking slowly through the neighborhood after dark, shining flashlights into hedges and writing things down, according to the watch’s own records, which confirm that the group was the Prairie Lane Neighborhood Watch.
The watch, which has 11 members and patrols a seven-block area on the east side of Corrin, was formed in June after a resident reported that a recycling bin had been moved approximately 4 feet. Its first patrol, on June 22, reported no activity. Its second patrol, on July 6, reported “two individuals in reflective vests looking into the Hagstroms’ side yard,” which a review later determined was the second patrol observing the first patrol, which had stayed out late.
“Whoever it is, they’re out there every night, and they’re organized,” said Lyle Dettweiler, 67, the watch’s chairman. “They’ve got vests. They’ve got a schedule. They’ve got a clipboard. Frankly, it’s a very professional operation, and I’d like to know who’s running it.” Dettweiler was informed that he was running it. He said he would look into it.
According to minutes kept by recording secretary Marcia Oakes, 59, the watch voted 9-2 on Aug. 3 to increase patrols in response to the rising activity, which doubled it. On Aug. 19, four members formed a separate group, the Prairie Lane Neighborhood Watch Watch, to monitor the original watch’s movements. The original watch responded by placing the Watch Watch under observation, and the two groups now patrol the same seven blocks in opposite directions each night, passing one another an average of 14 times between 9 p.m. and midnight and logging each passing as a sighting. On Aug. 28, a third group formed to watch both, and was immediately reported by each. As of Friday, every resident of Prairie Lane belongs to at least one watch, and the street’s only unwatched person is a man at 418 Prairie Lane who goes to bed at 8:30 p.m. and has been placed on all three groups’ list of people to keep an eye on.
Patricia Vane, lead analyst at the Bureau of Domestic Temperature Affairs, said the situation on Prairie Lane is a classic security dilemma.
“Each side sees the other’s flashlights and buys more flashlights,” Vane said. “We are now at roughly 40 flashlights per household on that street, which is well past deterrence. What they need is a confidence-building measure. One watch agrees to walk a little faster, the other agrees to stop writing it down, and you build from there.” Vane said the bureau has offered to send two neutral observers, but that neither watch has agreed to let them out after dark without being watched.
The watch’s group text, “Prairie Lane Eyes,” has 3,400 messages since July, of which 3,388 are members reporting other members and 12 are a photo of a raccoon that has not been identified.
Dettweiler said the watch stands by every report and remains convinced that the people out there at night are “up to something.” The group installed new signs this week at both ends of the street reading “This Neighborhood Is Watched.” Beneath each, a second, smaller sign was installed Wednesday by the Watch Watch. It reads “By Whom.”