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PLAINS TWP. – As crime continues to rise, township police say they need help from residents in their community.

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Charlotte Raup, president of the Wilkes-Barre Crime watch, speaks to residents of Plains Twp. Thursday evening about running a successful program.(Don Carey/Times Leader Photos)

Don Carey

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Plains Twp. police officer Rick Lussi opens a meeting at the Fox Hill Fire Co. on Thursday night. The meeting was aimed at starting a crime watch group.(Don Carey/Times Leader Photos)

Don Carey

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“We’re starting from scratch,” said township police Lt. Rick Lussi who called Charlotte Raup, president of the Wilkes-Barre Crime Watch Coalition, asking her for help in organizing a viable crime watch in Plains Township.

Ninety percent of crime is a result of drugs, according to Lussi, and police aren’t the only ones noticing an increase in daytime burglaries and thefts in communities.

“There’s no worse drug house than the one next to yours,” said Raup, who spoke to about 25 residents about how to run a successful crime watch on Thursday night. “We’d like to get coordinators and some people to help run it.”

A crime watch is a lot like an army of people in a community, Raup said.

“You are the eyes and ears of the police,” she said. “Crime watch is about prevention and citizens working with police.”

There are 14 crime watches in Wilkes-Barre, according to Raup, who also helped start up a crime watch in Laurel Run.

Many of the residents attending the Plains Neighborhood Crime Watch meeting were members of the previous crime watch group that fell apart because of lack of attendance, structure and overall organization.

Three residents offered to help coordinate the startup group in Plains Township.

A woman who at the meeting said she liked the idea of Wilkes-Barre’s crime watch members having pin numbers when they call 911 to report suspicious activity.

In addition to giving organization tips, Raup suggested the idea of having monthly topics such as identity theft or sex offenders.

“Every place should have a crime watch because there are only a handful of us working and we don’t know the neighborhoods as well as the people that live in them,” Lussi said. “We need their help more than they really need us. We really depend on them.”

Having a crime watch will augment the township’s police force, which has 19 full-time police officers. Ten township officers attended Thursday’s meeting.

The police department’s efforts in running a successful crime watch group has had tremendous support from the township board of commissioners, Lussi said.

Plains Neighborhood Crime Watch meetings will take place every last Tuesday of every month at Fox Hill Fire Co. on Second Street in Plains Township.

Anyone interested in joining should contact Plains Township Police Department at 829-3432. The