Protect Yourself & Your Property - Neighbourhood Watch
- What is Neighbourhood Watch
- Better Place
- How Schemes Work
- What can Neighbourhood Watch Schemes do?
- Neighbourhood Lancashire
If you want to play your part in helping local police fight crime, why not join the growing number of people who support Neighbourhood Watch throughout the county?
Did you know that there are now 2,500 Lancashire schemes covering 180,000 people involved in local watch groups? And that the number's steadily risen as local communities appreciate the benefit of the schemes. Not only does it build up local community spirit but, it's also been proved to keep crime and criminals at bay.
What is Neighbourhood Watch?
Neighbourhood Watch is one of the biggest and most successful crime prevention initiatives ever. Behind it lies a simple idea, and a central value shared by millions of people around the country.
Getting together with your neighbours to take action can cut local crime.
Everyone knows that the police are there to fight crime, but they need your help to do an effective job. Neighbourhood Watch is all about an active partnership with the police. Neighbourhood Watch schemes can:
- cut crime and the opportunities for crime,
- help and reassure those who live in fear of crime,
- encourage neighbourliness and closer communities.
A better place to live, work and play
Neighbourhood Watch is not just about reducing burglary figures - it's about creating communities who care. It brings local people together and can make a real contribution to improving their lives. The activity of Watch members can foster a new community spirit and a belief in the community's ability to tackle problems. At the same time, you feel secure, knowing your neighbours are keeping an eye on your property.
There are other benefits to Neighbourhood Watch schemes too. You will become familiar with crime prevention ideas which will help keep your home and belongings safe. And the extra security of belonging to a Neighbourhood Watch scheme offers might even mean that you can get a premium discount from your insurance company.
How Schemes Work
Neighbourhood Watch schemes can be large, covering, for example most of the households on an estate or they might involve just a half a dozen houses. It depends on the area and what people living there want.
A scheme is generally led by a volunteer co-ordinator whose job is to get people working together and make sure things get done. As well as the co-ordinator, there is usually a committee. Committees meet regularly to plan which problems to target and what action to take. Schemes keep in close touch with local police to share information and advice.
What can Neighbourhood Watch Schemes do?
They can target local crime problems and take action to prevent them. Schemes should find out from local people what most concerns them and focus on a specific problem.
These are the key steps to targeting and reducing crime and the fear of crime in an area. In consultation with your local police:
- Get a picture of local crime,
- Conduct a "fear of crime" survey,
- Target crimes you can have a real impact on,
- Identify the opportunities for crime,
- Form an action plan to tackle the problem,
- Block or reduce opportunities for the criminal.
Most crime is opportunist, committed on the spur of the moment, or when a car or house is left unlocked. This means there is enormous scope for reducing chances for criminals.
Traditional Nieghbourhood Watch activity has focused on the immediate vicinity of homes, with members looking out for anything suspicious, or helping their neighbours as necessary. However, more and more schemes are broadening their range of work.
Targeting local problems such as graffiti are well within the scope of a well organised Watch scheme. You may be able to take action yourselves, such as fitting more secure door and window locks in vulnerable homes, or you may need to get others involved. This could mean lobbying the local authority, for example, to improve the street lighting on your estate or to step up the security of a communal entrance.
Many schemes now work in partnership with other agencies like Victim Support and Help the Aged to help reduce the fear of crime.
Neighbourhood Watch in Lancashire
So, if you are interested, where do you start? Your first call should be to your crime prevention officer at your local police station. They will pass on the name and contact number for your local co-ordinator. Groups usually form themselves into local associations and can negotiate discounts on a whole range of things from locks to alarms and even house and car insurance. You will also be given simple crime prevention advice such as how to postcode your property and receive invaluable support, guidance and backing from local officers.
Police also help with technical equipment to make the job of local co-ordinators a lot easier, one excellent example of this is the Ringmaster system which is an established part of the South West Lancashire Association. This contacts co-ordinators' homes, updating them with latest crime information which can be quickly disseminated to local householders. Its worth has been proven repeatedly, particularly after a sighting of bogus officials or when there has been a pattern of burglaries or other crimes.
- For Further Information Visit: Neighbourhood watch
- or Neighbourhood watch - Western Division