Revere residents gather to begin security effort

REVERE – When Eileen Mundis’ son found a loaded handgun in the bushes outside the family’s front door she knew it was time to get involved.”Starting a neighborhood watch is not that difficult,” she told a crowd of about 75 residents and city officials during a community meeting Wednesday. “Two of us started it four years ago. We walked down the street with our little boys and knocked on doors.”Mayor Daniel Rizzo called keeping the city safe and making residents feel safe a priority but he also admitted he needed the help from the public.”It’s important that we are other’s eyes and ears out there,” he said.Police Chief Joseph Cafarelli and Community Resource Officer Gerard Salvati walked residents through what it takes to establish a crime watch. Salvati said it essentially takes pulling together a group of neighbors, establishing a leader, meeting about five times a year and communicating continuously with each other: the police, elected officials, and other city and community agencies.Cafarelli said communication among neighbors and getting to know each other and each other’s habits is key. If you don’t know your neighbors you won’t know why there are guys carrying their furniture away in the middle of the day, he said.The city has two neighborhood watches in action: Mundis’ Beachmont group, which Cafarelli called the city’s showcase, and a smaller group in Ward 2.Stacy Rizzo, no relation to the mayor, said she would consider starting one in Ward 4 where she lives.”My neighborhood is horrible,” she said. “My neighbor, in the middle of the day yesterday, someone smashed in his front door and took everything.”Salvati said what made this new attempt at growing the neighborhood watch program different is that Rizzo and Cafarelli are solidly on board.”The mayor is totally dedicated to this,” he said. “This is an unbelievable chance to make this work.”Salvati said anyone interested in starting a group could contact him or Sgt. Amy O’Hara, the department’s spokesman, at the station at 781-284-1212.”You’ve taken the first step,” Cafarelli said. “You came here. Every step after this is easy.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].