Neighbourhood Watch…Join or Set Up A Scheme in Your Area.
Neighbourhood Watch UK
History of Neighbourhood Watch A group of police officers visiting Chicago USA in 1982 discovered the concept of Neighbourhood Watch and decided to try the idea to combat crime in the UK and also make communities safer and friendlier places to live and work
The first scheme was set up in the village of Mollington in Cheshire, in response to a prevalent outbreak of burglaries and was an immediate success.
Surrounding areas became aware of this success and copied the scheme, which lead to the rapid growth of Neighbourhood Watch schemes throughout the country. Over 165,000 schemes are now established throughout the United Kingdom covering up to 25% of all households, making it now the largest voluntary organisation in the UK.
Neighbourhood Watch has proved to be the most effective example of communities collaborating to prevent crime and vandalism, reduce the fear of crime and generally improve the quality of life.
The National Neighbourhood Watch Association (NNWA) state their aims are to:-
- “Provide advice, information and support to the regional and local neighbourhood watch associations on structure, funding, sponsorship and project development. An important part of this function is to work with neighbourhood watch groups, to develop regional and local structures including the formation of associations.”
- “Significantly enhance the partnership capability throughout the movement in the areas of crime and disorder and the wider social concerns, such as anti-social behaviour and community support for the elderly and the vulnerable. Promote good citizenship and greater public participation in the prevention and solution of crime through the website, events and the distribution of information fact sheets.”
- “To represent the movement nationally, to government, the media, business and other agencies, in order to achieve greater public participation and awareness of our aims.”
- “NNWA seeks to broaden the appeal of Neighbourhood Watch to all sectors of the community. This includes raising the awareness of the movement, initiating project work and providing support in challenging areas, such as ethnic and diverse communities, high crime areas and young people.”
The NNWA is a registered charity (number 1049584) and a company limited by guarantee (number 3108908). It is a non-political organisation, funded almost entirely by commercial sponsorship, including Kleeneze, Yale, Candis and others.
The members of the Board of Trustees act for the charitable purposes of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association and also as company directors. The remaining company members are locally elected NNWA representatives, covering most of the Police Force areas in England and Wales.
Reasons For Starting a Neighbourhood Watch Local Scheme The main aim of a scheme is to create a partnership between the local community, the police and the local authority. The schemes are ideal for building community relations and liasing with the police to reduce crime, fear of crime and improve the quality of life in your area.
What can Neighbourhood Watch schemes do?
- They target the problems of crime and take action to prevent them. In consultation with the local police they find out from local people what crimes affect and worry them and focus on those specific problems.
- Most crime is opportunistic, when a car or house is left unlocked or obviously vulnerable. There is enormous scope for reducing opportunities for criminals, by informing and encouraging people to take security action to beat the criminal.
- In the past Neighbourhood Watch activity has focused on the immediate vicinity of homes. However, the schemes are now broadening their range of work to tackle local problems such as vandalism, graffiti and anti-social behaviour.
- You can take action such as fitting more secure door and window locks in vulnerable homes, or lobby your local authority to improve street lighting, or increase the security of a problem communal entrance.
Why not join or set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your street or community and make it a safer place for everyonewho lives there, with the added peace of mind of increasing the security of your own home?
Contact your local police station NOW, to find out if there is a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your area, or check it out on the NNWA website here:-
http://www.neighbourhoodwatch.net/
Discounted Home Security System Monitored From Neighbourhood Watch & SWALEC