Neighbourhood Watch
What is Neighbourhood Watch?
Neighbourhood Watch is a partnership of residents working with the police and other agencies to reduce crime and the fear of crime in their community. Members of a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme are much less likely to be a victim of crime.
Neighbourhood Watch aims to:
- Reduce the opportunities for crime by making it more difficult for the criminal
- Reinforce the local community spirit so that neighbours work together
- Help the police to reduce crime and bring criminals to justice
There are other benefits to Neighbourhood Watch schemes. You will become familiar with crime prevention ideas, which will help keep your home and belongings safe. Being a member of Neighbourhood Watch might even mean that you can get a premium discount from your insurance company.
Neighbourhood Watch within the County is growing year by year. We currently have 3,697 schemes run by 4,260 volunteer co-ordinators and 175 volunteer Area Co-ordinators.
These co-ordinators cover between them 142,886 homes throughout Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with Neighbourhood Watch which roughly equates to one in 5 homes.
Whilst there is still room for Neighbourhood Watch to grow, the message is getting out that communities can help deter crime and take ownership of their communities themselves and because of this, Neighbourhood Watch membership has increased by 98% across the County in the last 2 years. More and more homeowners are joining Neighbourhood Watch, working with their local Safer Neighbourhood Police to ensure their immediate and wider neighbourhoods are kept safe, encouraging neighbourliness, preventing opportunistic crime and working together to keep anti social behaviour down.
The volunteer co-ordinators’ hard work and support for Neighbourhood Watch is the backbone of a successful ‘Watch’ and they do a sterling job promoting the benefits of this community run initiative.
The Hampshire Neighbourhood Watch Association (www.hantsnwa.org.uk) is the umbrella organisation for all Neighbourhood Watches in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and works closely with Hampshire Constabulary to ensure that two way communication is paramount.
Crime Prevention Advice
Here are a few tips for crime prevention which you can cut out and keep, to find out more detail or to discuss any query you may have please contact your local NW Co-ordinator or local Beat Officer.
How does a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme work?
A Neighbourhood Watch Scheme is formed by the residents. Schemes can be large, covering for example a whole estate, or they might involve just half a dozen houses. A Scheme is generally led by a co-ordinator who is the link between the residents, other local schemes and the police. This communication link provides the basis for a two-way information flow on crime and policing in your area, on crime prevention advice and access to your local Beat Officer.
There is a lot that a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme can do:
- Build a picture of local crime
- Identify the opportunities for crime and block or reduce them
- Target local crime problems and take action to prevent them
- Share crime prevention ideas to protect your home and belongings
- Report suspicious activity to the police
- Report environmental issues such as vandalism or graffiti
How to set up your own Neighbourhood Watch Scheme?
The usual steps in forming a new Scheme are:
- Contact your Local Beat Officers to check whether a Scheme is already in place
- Talk to your neighbours to see how much interest there is
- Talk to a co-ordinator of an existing scheme
- Set up a meeting of the residents with your Beat Officer
- Decide on a co-ordinator, deputy or perhaps a committee to keep the scheme running
- Decide on issues such as subscription to pay for signage etc.
- Complete the registration process and await scheme authorisation
- Obtain welcome to distribute to members
Contact for more information :
For more information on Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in Rushmoor:
- Phone your local beat team on 0845 045 4545
- Rushmoor Neighbourhood Watch Scheme
www.rnwa.org.uk
Links to other Neighbourhood Watch websites
- Home Office Neighbourhood Watch
www.neighbourhoodwatch.uk.com - National Neighbourhood Watch
www.neighbourhoodwatch.net
