Neighbourhood Watch
for Busy People
A Guide to Neighbourhood Watch for Busy People
So, you would like to have a neighbourhood watch for your street, but you don’t have the time to run it. The primary solution is to set it up and run it with others, your neighbours.
Decide why you want to have a neighbourhood watch. What it is you want to achieve.
Once you have decided to establish one, you have decided on the reason for having a neighbourhood watch .If the situation is that there are continuing issues to address, there is regular crime activity nearby and residents have high levels of concern about neighbourhood safety, then the advice is most definitely to involve others with the setting up and running of the scheme.
Breaking down the process to register your membership.
- Registering yourself online takes about 5 to 10 mins. Look at Joining Neighbourhood Watch on this site on OurWatch.org.uk/join
2. You may already know some neighbours, contacting neighbours is important. It’s common practice to give your neighbours a leaflet to explain the benefits and explain how they can join.
3. An initial contact should include that the neighbour will help the scheme to run.Explaination by you as why neighbourhood watch would be of benefit to everyone and what the ambition and objectives be. Not everyone wants to be involved, if that’s the case there is no benefit in forcing anyone.
4. There will be initial contact from an MSA, a local national database admin person, by e mail then a personal visit, their role is to approve your scheme and give you opportunity to ask questions. Allow about one hour for this.
5. The different roles to make your scheme work routinely are listed below
6. We are having increasing numbers of schemes where the members are mostly networked on Face Book, Next Door, Whats App or another social media platform. While not a true neighbourhood watch, social media networks often call themselves neighbourhood watch. Experience tells us to be aware because you do not have control over who is signed up to the group. Peterborough has had cases when people involved in active crime join, they do it to try and keep ahead of things to avoid detection.
7. These can work and be effective to a basic level, most certainly, very convenient ways to communicate and share information. You get to know people by messages online and not routinely face to face. Lack of face-to-face contact means you don’t really get to know people.
The minimum to do is to set up and run a standard neighbourhood watch -communication/talk/chat to your neighbours. Agree with a shared reason to set one up. All register online/decide who, if not you, can be the coordinator. Some people share the role. Meet the MSA and get approved. Decide on the number of households to be invited. Share members guide leaflets and supply window stickers. Get an overview of local issues. Crime or anti-social behaviour etc. Remind all members about their role- i.e., crime prevention- being a good neighbour and reporting concerns, suspicious activity at the time or soon after the suspicion to the police and make sure the coordinator is informed. Congratulations all set up to a safer community.
