Residents, law enforcement officials and elected representatives gathered Saturday afternoon at the Lions Club in North Hall as part of an effort to maintain outreach, visibility and networking between neighborhood watch participants.

Rick Frommer organized a neighborhood watch in his North Hall neighborhood after catching two strangers in the act of approaching his home in December, perhaps intending to break in.

“I had lived in that house eight or nine years and never had anything like this happen,” Frommer said.

Frommer managed to spook the two men and avoid becoming a victim of crime, but the experience motivated him to call the Hall County Sheriff’s Office and inquire about starting a neighborhood watch.

“We communicate with Sgt. (Stephen) Wilbanks. He sends us emails when there are burglaries and things happening. And second of all, we watch each other’s houses,” Frommer explained.

The program as it works now is largely the product of Wilbanks, who serves with the Sheriff’s Office crime prevention and public relations unit.

“When I came off patrol in 2009 and took over the crime prevention unit, I basically started from scratch with the neighborhood watch,” Wilbanks said.

Previously, organizing and educating residents on neighborhood watch was an additional duty of deputies. Wilbanks said the reincorporation of the program under the wing of crime prevention has been effective.

“Since 2009, we’ve risen to 73 neighborhood watch groups,” he said.

Communities, regardless of size, makeup or geographic sprawl, can call the crime prevention unit and start a watch, Wilbanks said.

“Don’t let geography deter you. If people want to get together and do a good thing, we’ll accommodate you,” he said. “Mr. Frommer is a good example because his neighborhood is only about eight houses.”

District 2 Commissioner Scott Gibbs, who represents a large portion of North Hall, was at the meeting.

“The Sheriff’s Office is trying to get each neighborhood to set up a neighborhood watch,” he said. “There’s dos and don’ts. Don’t leave valuables in your car, look out for each other, that sort of thing.”