- Contacting individual households in the neighbourhood to determine the level of support for setting up a NW scheme
- Where support is positive, arranging a meeting to discuss setting up a scheme
- Setting up and maintaining a Neighbourhood Watch within a specific area
- Communicating relevant crime and community safety information in the area
- Communicating information from members to police or local authority
- Acting as a link between the scheme members, other co-ordinators, the local police, NW Associations (where applicable), the local authority and other relevant agencies.
Other members
It is important that one person is not left with all of the work. There are a number of tasks that can be carried out by the neighbourhood watch co-ordinator or by other members once the scheme is up and running:
Please remember, it’s YOUR Neighbourhood Watch and YOUR community. YOU will know best what needs to be done.
- Supplying individual households with stickers for doors and windows as well as relevant support materials
- Assisting police and other relevant agencies in promoting public reassurance and community safety/crime prevention initiatives
- Circulating information and advice in a number of different ways
- Providing community intelligence to the coordinator or the police, e.g. suspicious or criminal incidents
- Keeping in touch with other members or nearby schemes
- Looking out for vulnerable people in the community
- Welcoming newcomers to the neighbourhood
- Identifying local environmental problems and working with partners to resolve these
If the scheme has been running for a long time, perhaps it would be good to go back and have a look at why you have a Neighbourhood Watch and what you want to achieve. You can find some questions to help with this in the section on how your watch will work.
Risk Assessment Template
NWS has produced a Risk Assessment Template as an aid to help organisers prepare for a safe event associated with NWS activities. This could be anything from a coffee morning, group meeting to a larger fundraiser event. By considering the potential risks an organiser can help reduce the prospect of any risks of harm to attendees. If you have any questions or need to support please get in touch.
