Collin Overton, Madison Courier Reporter
Dupont, population 325 as of 2018, is organizing itself and taking a stand to fight for its town.
Residents of the small municipality brought in Chief Deputy Josh Taylor of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to a Nov. 13 organizing meeting to explain how they could keep a closer watch on the rising crime and vandalism in the area. Taylor told the packed crowd at the Dupont firehouse how to start a neighborhood watch, including how to coordinate with the sheriff’s office and put volunteers through background checks.
For a town that has seen a decline in local business and increased drug traffic, vandalism and crime — including a string of incidents this summer that forced the post office to alter its hours — the watch is a first step toward saving a shrinking community.
Now the town is dealing with the additional blow of being told its bank will close.
Attendance wasn’t what it could have been Wednesday, Dec. 9, because of local church events that night, but a group of about 10 laid the groundwork for the first neighborhood watch in the town’s history.
“I think there are a lot of times that we don’t want to be involved...we don’t want to say things, we’re afraid of the repercussions or what might happen, but we’re going to have to be involved,” said Robyn Meek, the chief organizer of the watch. “If we want Dupont to be the good little town that it used to be, we have to watch out for each other.”
As local businesses and commerce have declined, public concern and crime have increased, said April Leach, who manages Dupont Hardware and Grocery and has lived there most of her life.
“There was just always something going on in the community,” she remembered. “And I think a lot of that has died off and people have lost interest, and they’ve just gotten lackadaisical about things like ‘Oh well, whatever happens, happens.’”
A significant chunk of meeting time Tuesday was spent discussing protocol for reporting crime to the neighborhood watch committee and to the police. Meek told volunteers to report any suspicious behavior, but to call police any time a crime needed urgent attention.
Lately in Dupont, that has meant fights in the middle of the street late at night. While Meek has heard plenty of comments, none of these incidents have been reported to police, she said.
“If they’re out in the middle of the night, fighting and screaming in the street, they’re probably also up to no good,” Meek said. “... Let [police] come out here. Let them drive through town, see what they see.”
Drug activity remains another priority for concerned residents of Dupont. Even after a series of busts in July that put eight people in jail, late night traffic and suspicious behavior keeps the community on its toes. Meek encouraged those at the meeting to take a picture any time they see something suspicious as long as it was safe to do so.
“You might not think anything about it, but if you continue to see the same thing happening, and it becomes a pattern, then there probably is something to it,” Meek told members at the meeting.
Documenting crime continued to be a focus of the meeting, as residents discussed the cameras placed around town at local businesses and homes. Leach said she had cameras outside her store that the watch could review.
The neighborhood watch will extend not only to city limits, but communities within the Dupont area, Meek said. With that said, they may need to employ several neighborhood watch “captains” to preside over different areas that report to the main committee. Crime will be reported to Deputy Taylor, the law enforcement liasion, Meek told members.
She also said a town marshal might also be in order, although it would likely be a volunteer position. Meek said she had discussed getting a retired car from the sheriff’s department for an officer to use on patrols.
To raise awareness and deter crime, the group will put up 10 signs around Dupont, with one at every entrance to town. They’ll also likely have to do some door-to-door recruiting and show up at events like the fish fry to increase their involvement, Meek said.
Raising awareness is both a necessity and a challenge for the group, after gathering spots like Railroad Cafe and J and R Grocery closed in 2018 and Dupont Elementary School closed in 2012, Leach said. This makes it harder to reach people, but also encourages crime because of a lack of witnesses, other members of the watch said.
“The more businesses that close, the less people to watch, the less people to report things — it’s not a good thing,” Meek said.
One business closure looming heavy over the town is the German American Bank branch, scheduled to shut its doors Jan. 31, 2020.
Since 1910, the building at 10525 NW Front St. has housed a bank for citizens of Dupont, first as Dupont State Bank, then River Valley Bank after it was bought in 2013. It was sold to German American in 2016.
On Oct. 31, German American notified customers it was closing the branch because of low transactions and “continued growth of customers choosing online and mobile banking.” Efforts by the Courier to reach German American Bank officials Wednesday to ask if there is any possibility the pullout might be reconsidered were unsuccessful.
Leach and others — since they received the letter — have started a Facebook group, “Save Dupont Branch of German American Bank” and started a petition to save the branch from closure, an event they say will cripple what’s left of the town.
“Many elderly customers and those with no transportation, are very concerned about potentially being required to drive 11-12 miles to do their banking or not having access to banking at all,” the petition reads. “...There are several large farm accounts and businesses throughout the Dupont community. Their employees cash their checks on Friday, then spend money at the local businesses. If these customers are required to conduct banking activities elsewhere, they will obviously purchase their food, gasoline and other commodities in other communities. The loss to our local businesses will be significant and the impact devastating to the town of Dupont!”
Residents also created a flier, which tells others to sign the petition, call German American and voice their opinion, write letters, join the Facebook page and double their bank transactions at the bank.
“German American wants transactions. Give them transactions!” the flier reads. “When you go in to do your banking, make a separate deposit for a penny, nickel, or dime. Everyone has loose change, turn them into transactions.”
Mary Peters, a Dupont resident in her 80s, has banked there since she was 18. If Dupont loses the branch, she said, she’ll switch banks instead of going to another German American location.
“Everything in Dupont will close. The hardware store, the liquor store — everything will close.”