Neighbourhood Watch is a means of developing and improving the liaison between the community, the Police and the Local Authority.

Our aims are:

• To help people to protect themselves and their property

• To reduce the fear of crime

• To improve the local environment by improving local and home security

• To encourage greater vigilance

• To foster community spirit

Whatever the level of local crime rate it is important that the local community and the Police work together in partnership to prevent and detect crime.

Individual schemes differ depending on the area. Most schemes are set up with the co-operation of the local Police. Schemes are run locally to address local needs or problems and are supported by local Police. Each scheme has a volunteer co-ordinator who liaises with the Development Officers and disseminates information to members of their scheme.

All scheme members take steps to prevent crime, improve safety and reduce the fear of crime. Each Neighbourhood Watch scheme is a community initiative supported (not run) by the Police. The success of the scheme depends on what the members want to make of it.

Voice Connect – making a large County seem smaller

Voice Connect is a new communication system which enables us to pass police information on to all our volunteer Coordinators. This information can be received in three ways as a text, e-mail or as a recorded message, volunteers can specify times when they wish to receive the messages.

Neighbourhood Watch is recognised as having a real role to play in reducing crime and anti social behaviour. Our volunteers play an active role in looking after their community as part of network which can circulate vital information. This enables the police to respond to criminal activity in a more effective way. The Police can then maximise their resources resulting in safer communities in which people live and work.

So how can you help?

We need more watch members to make the scheme work more efficiently. For more information, please click here.

All Neighbourhood Watch schemes need a Coordinator.  For more information, please click here.

If you would like to run your own Neighbourhood Watch, click here.