MEXICO — The Police Department and the Mexico Explorers program will host a meet-and-greet with residents this month to discuss an upcoming neighborhood watch program, interim police Chief Roy Hodsdon said Friday.

Hodsdon said the idea for the program came from reserve police officer Cam Barrieau.

“Cam came up to me last spring, around the time the burglaries in town were increasing, and proposed the idea of a neighborhood watch for our town, and I told him that I thought it’d be a great idea,” Hodsdon said. “It’s always been in the back of our mind as something we should do.”

Hodsdon said the meet-and-greet will be announced to the press and on the department Facebook page when a date is set.

The community response has been “overwhelmingly” in favor of a neighborhood watch, he said.

“We made a post on our Facebook asking residents what they thought about a neighborhood watch, and we’ve heard nothing but good things about it,” Hodsdon said. “Once we set a date for the meet-and-greet, residents will get to come in and share what their expectations are and some of the ideas they have for the town.”

The plan is to focus on two or three areas in town, though Hodsdon said if the community has a certain area they want officers and the Mexico Explorers to focus on, they’ll listen.

“When I worked with the Jay Police Department some years ago, I helped run their neighborhood watch program, and it helped out,” he said. “We’re just trying to curb some of the crime that’s been going on lately. It’s a good community policing program.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com