Reading a book like Taras Bulba today is like taking a wild roller-coaster ride back through a time when roller-coasters didn't exist, but the ride of life was every bit as hair-raising and far more dangerous.

This story is an elegantly flamboyant tale of legendary heroic deeds done by legendary fighting Cossacks for whom death in battle was the only honourable death. These were men who would die willingly alongside a wounded comrade in a vain attempt to save his life, but also men who would slaughter women and children along with men and priests who offended their haughty pride in themselves or their orthodox faith.

Gogol brought his sixteenth century characters to life so vividly that you can almost visualise the arrogant self-worship in their eyes, excited into action by extreme hatred of their enemies. You can almost feel the brave strength and fearless ferocity of these warriors with their sabres and musket-balls flying on the battlefields of the Ukrainian steppes.

I have never believed in Neighborhood Watch programs. I see them as helping to facilitate government cop-outs on crime control.

I can see their worth as an adjunct to effective crime control policies. As a substitute, which is what they have tended to become and were always going to become, they are useless.

This month the St Marys (South Australia) Neighborhood Watch newsletter confirmed that my assessment is spot-on. The front page feature article is a generic spiel about - believe it or not - the wearing of seatbelts in cars! It is a mirror of a current road safety advertising campaign.

What does that have to do with crime control?

Oh, yes! I see the point, alright. Failure to wear seatbelts is a crime because it causes needless deaths. And in response to that I say to the Neighborhood Watch coordinator and the fans of this half-baked club of committee-lovers -" Belt Up!"

Worthwhile though they may be, there are places for road safety articles. Neighborhood Watch newsletters isn't it.

These programs and their periodicals were initially designed to encourage locals to help prevent mainstream crimes by keeping a sharp eye out and reporting anything suspicious.

What we expect to read are articles detailing how local heroes have helped to curb crimes in the area through timely deeds. Where are they? People have largely become cynical because when they have tried to report something to police the response has been somewhat lacklustre.

To make matters worse, the remaining three pages of this rag contain nothing more than generic crime prevention tips and a list of crimes reported in the area last month that is so tiny it couldn't possibly reflect the true picture of local offending.

Here is the final insult - a four page insert crammed full of advertising! Frankly, I found the advertising to be the only worthwhile content in this dismal publication that was stuffed into my letterbox. Since the advertising is clearly paid for and since the newsletter contained no new material, just what exactly is money being raised for?

The guest speaker at their next meeting is from the Adelaide Youth Court. The subject is Juvenile Justice Family Conferencing. That news hints to me what I have long suspected - that Neighborhood Watch programs have become a tool for governments and justice officials to saturate the public mind with their own preferred crime control policies.

Those policies are the ones that work for them. Do they work for us?