In recent months, Washington Police Department’s outreach program has made a concerted effort to reestablish a flagging interest in what was once a strong, nationwide program: the community watch.

While the focus of community watches and program volunteers has been on crime prevention, there are other, more important, reasons why such programs need to be in place, according to law enforcement officials. That’s to prevent people from slipping through the cracks.

It happened recently in Washington, when a 54-year-old woman died in her East Third Street home, a fact that went unnoticed for several months.

“This is abnormal,” said Washington Police and Fire Services Director Stacy Drakeford, as he described the situation. “Usually, when people haven’t seen someone in a week or so, they start calling people.”

According to officials, though the woman owned the property and lived there, power and water had been cut off to the home in 2003; a previous falling out prevented family members from attempting to make contact; neighbors told police they hadn’t seen the woman come or go from the dilapidated house for up to two years — they thought she had left.

No one called until a relative reported her missing to authorities two months ago, Drakeford said. When police responded, they found her body, long deceased and dressed in coats, indicating she’d died at some point over the winter. Though autopsy results have yet to be returned, the fact there was no forced entry and no indication of foul play has led investigators to believe she died of natural causes — she just wasn’t found.

“We let her down,” Drakeford said. “The community let her down.”

For Drakeford, the incident only lends weight to the importance of community watches — neighbors knowing neighbors well enough to recognize when something is amiss.

“I think the big thing is that some individuals have lost contact with their neighbors,” Drakeford said. “These community watches are a way for individuals to get to know each other … When you know someone, we have a tendency to look out for their best interests.”

Community, or neighborhood, watches have their roots in the volunteer town watchmen of the Colonial era, but the programs’ modern version first made an appearance in Queens, N.Y. in the late 1960s. The reason: the rape and murder of a woman that was in part witnessed by a dozen people, none of whom did anything to stop the crime or apprehend the perpetrator. By 1972, the National Sheriff’s Association was promoting community watches nationwide, asking residents to take an active interest, and role, in protecting the community.

To some extent, law enforcement has been successful in reinvigorating flagging interest in Washington. In the last seven months, four new community watches have cropped up with the WPD’s help, and another is being re-established by the current residents of a neighborhood. In many cases, people are meeting their neighbors for the first time through the community watch program, Drakeford said.

“Looking out for our neighbors, for our neighbors’ kids, for the elderly in the community — that’s what it’s all about,” Drakeford said. “As citizens of Washington, we are in this process — of making our community a safe place to live — together.”

For more information about starting a community watch, call the Washington Police Department at 252-946-1444.