Getting into a routine

According to author and psychologist Jeremy Dean, it takes an average of 66 days for people to form new habits. 

Now, the Mountain Brook Police Department is hoping to cultivate a new habit and help residents remember to secure their vehicles and homes each night through a simple initiative: the 9 p.m. routine.

Lt. Jaye Loggins, who has been with MBPD for more than 21 years, first found the program after someone tagged the MBPD in a Pasco County Police Department tweet with “#9PMroutine.”

“We actually got … tagged on our Twitter account by someone stating they wished Mountain Brook would join the 9 p.m. routine,” Loggins said. “So when I saw that we were mentioned in the tweet, I started looking at it, seeing what it was about.”

He found the initiative originated in Florida, and just around 9 p.m., police department accounts used social media outlets and the tag “#9PMroutine” to encourage residents to implement what should be a common nightly routine: making sure all valuables are taken out of cars, and locking car and house doors. 

“When I saw it, I looked into and thought, ‘That would be a good campaign for our department to use,’” Loggins said. So, he started posting about the 9 p.m. routine on Twitter, Facebook and in the weekly crime update email.

Around the same time, Mountain Brook residents suffered a wave of car break-ins throughout the community. Loggins said Pasco County’s car break-ins had reduced by 36 percent since implementing the program, and if they could reduce local break-ins by just 5 percent with the program, it would be worth it. 

“Approximately 85-90 percent of our car break-ins are unlocked vehicles. … We see over and over people reporting their vehicles broken into or stolen, and the vehicle was unlocked,” Loggins said. “It doesn’t take but a second out of your time to lock the door and make sure you’ve got your property with you.”

Some tweets have read “Are your doors locked? #9PMroutine,” or “#9PMRoutine Lock up and take your stuff with you.”

He described crime prevention as a “community partnership,” meaning everyone needs to do his or her part to both prevent and deter criminal activity in Mountain Brook. And so far, Loggins thinks the cost effective initiative is making headway by tagging #9PMroutine in their evening posts.

“There’s been some interest,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of good, funny posts; Everybody thinks it’s a good idea.”

While it’s still too early to tell if the program is making a difference in break-in rates, Loggins said it has taken hold in other areas in Alabama since Mountain Brook adopted it — both Madison County and Hoover have either implemented the routine or startedsomething similar.

“Obviously, if we’ve changed one person’s routine or habit to start doing it, it’s been worth it,” he said. “It’s just something to catch somebody’s eye and for them to read it and be reminded to do it.”

You can find the MBPD on Facebook as “Mountain Brook Police Department,” or on Twitter as @mountainbrookpd. To sign up for the weekly crime update, emailcommunityupdate@mtnbrook.org.