Maricopa business owners and managers have a City program designed to connect them with police safety information, training and crime-prevention resources.
The Maricopa Police Department Business Watch page describes the program as a partnership with local businesses. Its current online entry points let a business join Business Watch, request a meeting with the team or submit a separate Business Closure Watch Request.
Those choices solve different problems. Joining establishes the ongoing connection. A meeting request is the route for a conversation with the program. A closure-watch request is for a business preparing to be closed, and businesses should use that form rather than assume ordinary membership automatically creates a property-check schedule.
What Business Watch members are offered
MPD's page groups the program benefits into four areas:
Crime-prevention resources: practical safety guidance, retail-theft and organized-retail-crime awareness, fraud and scam prevention, and security or surveillance recommendations.
Direct communication: crime-trend updates, safety alerts and emergency notifications that affect businesses.
Training opportunities: active-threat preparedness, workplace-violence prevention and suspicious-activity recognition.
Community partnerships: contact with other local businesses and public-safety partners, plus support around special events and other local needs.
The page also says participating businesses can display an official Business Watch window decal. It does not state a membership price, application deadline, guaranteed response time or guaranteed number of property checks. Owners should read the live registration form before treating any of those details as settled.
Three ways to start
1. Join Business Watch
Use Join Business Watch Now on the official page when the goal is to enter the program and receive its continuing resources. The City does not publish an upcoming Business Watch event on the page as of Oct. 4, so owners do not need to wait for a meeting announcement to find the registration route.
2. Schedule a meeting
Use Schedule a Meeting with Business Watch for a direct conversation. That may be the better first step when a business has questions about its layout, staff training or the correct City resource. The page does not promise that every request will produce an immediate on-site assessment.
3. Submit a closure-watch request
The separate Business Closure Watch Request is the relevant link before an extended closure. Because the landing page does not explain inspection frequency or eligibility details, submit the form early and use the program contact to confirm what the request covers.
What the program does not replace
Business Watch is not an emergency-reporting channel. MPD says to call 911 for an emergency. Its non-emergency dispatch number is 520-568-3673, and the department also offers online police reporting for qualifying non-emergency matters.
The program is also different from MPD's camera-registration service. OurMaricopa's camera-registration guide explains that voluntary registry and the limits on police access. A business may decide that both programs are useful, but enrolling in one should not be described as enrollment in the other.
Resources already on the City page
MPD links a Business Watch handbook, a trespass-authority form, a small-business scam guide and a general scam-avoidance resource. The page also identifies current focus areas that include retail crime, critical infrastructure, school and transportation safety, and property-management partnerships.
For a question that does not fit one of the forms, the listed program email is businesswatch@maricopa-az.gov. Businesses can also keep their public details current in the OurMaricopa directory and use the community and public-services directory to find local government contacts.
The practical sequence is simple: choose the correct request, avoid overstating what the program guarantees, and keep emergency and non-emergency reporting routes available to staff.
Sources
City of Maricopa Police Department — “Business Watch.” Official program page. Accessed Oct. 4, 2026. Source for benefits, registration routes, resources, current initiatives, contact email and the notice that no upcoming events are listed.
City of Maricopa Police Department — Department page. Official MPD page. Accessed Oct. 4, 2026. Source for 911, non-emergency dispatch and online-reporting context.
MPD's Business Watch page offers registration, meeting and business-closure request routes. Photo: OurMaricopa graphic based on City of Maricopa Police Department guidance.