By Debbie Adams
Chad Clark has lived in Roanoke County, the Mount Pleasant area in particular, all his life. For
the past two years he has been heavily involved in the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Watch
program. A neighborhood watch is a group of people living in the same area who want to
empower citizens to make their neighborhood safer by working together, and in conjunction with
local law enforcement, to reduce crime and improve their quality of life. The organization is
affiliated with the National Sheriff’s Association.
Clark has become a driving force and facilitator for the local group. On March 11, he addressed
the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors during the citizens’ comments period to ask for their
help in making the Mount Pleasant area a safer space.
“My original intention was to send an email to Roanoke County Police Chief Poindexter, but
instead I want to plead my case for more help for my community here in an open forum to
hopefully get my community the attention it deserves–because I want to believe that better times
are ahead of us and not behind us,” Clark said.
“Closing in on two years now, I became involved in the neighborhood watch program due to
items being stolen from my, and my neighbors’, property. We have worked very hard in those
two years as originally the meetings were not well attended. In fact, the first one I attended was
myself plus three others and the police resource officer. Over the last two years, we now average
30 and have had as many as almost 50 in attendance.
“In that two years we’ve worked together to do a lot to better our community and we have all
gotten an education from many of our guest speakers who have attended our meetings, most
notably Commonwealth Attorney Holohan, Sheriff Orange, and police resource officers Benton
and Forehand. The education we receive, we then pass onto the rest of the community via the
Facebook page for Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Watch.
“And that brings me to the reason I am here. While we do understand that the Roanoke County
Police Dept. (RCPD) is a Data Driven Department, and I am positive that in the last two years
RCPD has seen a greater volume of calls, it does not reflect the true state of our community. The
reason why is something that doesn't go back two years but rather goes back a decade plus in
some circumstances, and that is that a lot of people have simply lost faith in both law
enforcement and leadership.
“I feel I have a very unique perspective on the community because of being involved in the
neighborhood watch program. I’m always trying to recruit people to become a part of it and work
together to better our community and while I thought it would be an easy sell, it hasn’t been and
this is why: people unfortunately think that calling does nothing. It’s their perception that
nothing has changed and that nothing will change, and despite our best efforts, the past two
years, our situation seems worse now than when we started. The other reason is simply fear–fear
of repercussions from career criminals who are their neighbors.
“Can you imagine being a mom who leaves work every day to be sure her kids get off the school
bus safely? Can you imagine being a parent who no longer allows their kids to go in the woods
because of fear of needles, drug paraphernalia, and drug addicts being in the woods? Can you
imagine living next door to dealers and the non-stop vehicle and foot traffic coming and going?
Can you imagine living in a community where you feel criminals have more rights than you?
“That is why the numbers you look at on paper will never represent what actually goes on in the
community.
“If we are not careful what are southeast Roanoke City problems today, will become Mount
Pleasant problems tomorrow.
“I think the recent murder on Yellow Mountain Road, which is 1.6 miles from my house, shows
that there are no longer safe zones or safe spaces–it happened there, unfortunately it will happen
here if nothing is done.
“I’m not here point fingers. I’m here because I love my community and, unfortunately, I don’t
have the answer to the problems Mount Pleasant faces. So I’m asking you, the Board of
Supervisors, for help on this matter.”
The Mount Pleasant group generally meets on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at
the Mount Pleasant Fire Dept. for about an hour. They focus on neighborhood and community
and local needs. It’s a place to be heard, to vent, and to interact with the government officials
Clark invites to respond to questions and concerns, not just about law enforcement. Each month,
Officer Forehand shares crime statistics for the area, specific crimes that have occurred, and
sometimes ways they could have been prevented.
At a meeting this summer, Clark urged citizens to call the police when they see suspicious
behavior. “Doing nothing hurts our community. If the police aren’t getting calls, due to staffing,
then an area of the county is not getting patrolled as frequently, so we have to look after one
another, and when we see something, report it.”
He believes that crime prevention is more successful when “the whole community works
together and gets connected once again” as in the past. Now he is asking not just the citizens of
Mount Pleasant, but Roanoke County leadership to provide more assistance in crime prevention.
The Neighborhood Watch Facebook page generally makes the community aware of traffic
issues, missing pets, trees in the road, power outages, Internet outages, detours, drag racing on
the streets, crashes, black bears in the area, and even an individual wandering on a roadway who
seemed to have dementia–all examples of neighbors looking after neighbors and not feeling
isolated.
Anyone who has ever met Clark can attest to his genuine caring and kindness and his tireless
work for the community. The watch group has even taken on community issues involving
providing children in the Mount Pleasant area with a food distribution program.
Now Clark is asking the Board of Supervisors to put their focus on crime in the Mount Pleasant
area and what can be done to prevent it.
