NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
HELP MAKE YOUR AREA SAFER BY SETTING UP A
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH SCHEME
Neighbourhood Watch means:
- ·No one is alone.
- ·Your neighbours will look out for your family, home and street.
- ·Keeping a check on people in your neighbourhood who are vulnerable.
- ·Everyone taking responsibility for keeping there are safer by reporting suspicious activity.
Neighbourhood Watch schemes benefit from:
- ·Police support and advice on making your area safer.
- ·Practical tips to home and personal security.
- ·Stronger relationships with the Police and other supporting organisations.
- ·Residents looking out for each other.
For an information pack on Neighbourhood Watch please contact the Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator on 028 91474954
Guidance for PSNI/CSP and DPP on establishing Neighbourhood Watch Schemes
Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators throughout County Down are going back to school!
Well, to be more precise, they visited the Police College of Northern Ireland on Thursday, 24th November 2007 to observe student police officers in training. The event, a first in Northern Ireland, is being organised on behalf of the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme by Sharon Skelly, a full time neighbourhood watch officer for C District and Chief Inspector Mark Kernohan, Head of Foundation Programmes at the Police College which is located at Garnerville in Belfast.
Neighbourhood Watch offers communities the opportunity to develop closer links with local police and aims to help residents protect themselves and their property through improved home security, greater vigilance and an enhanced community spirit. Every Neighbourhood Watch Scheme has a nominated individual who acts as a ‘NWS Coordinator’ within their local area. Just over 60 Neighbourhood Watch coordinators from North Down, Down Ards and Castlereagh attended and they were joined on the evening by the Chief Superintendent for C District, Graham Shields, Area Commanders for each area, DPP Managers and CSP Co-Ordinators.
All those attending arrived at 7.00 pm and were provided with the opportunity to network and discuss Neighbourhood Watch in different areas over a light supper. The co-ordinators were then divided into groups and they watched student police officers undergo realistic, ‘scenario based’ training using role actors.
The first scenario was in relation to Youths causing annoyance and a dramatisation took place in which Police received a 999 call from a local resident to attend a report of youths playing football.
The second scenario involved Police receiving a 999 call from a local resident s to attend youths drinking in a public place
The third scenario was concerned with bogus callers and distraction burglary.
Finally a dramatisation took place concerning Police on patrol encountering disorderly youths.
Following the dramatisations there was a further opportunity to network and discussion took place as to how Police deal with situation and how Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators can help to protect themselves and their property. There was also general discussion around policing issues and questions answered by the Chief Superintendent and Area Commanders.
According to Sharon Skelly, “Neighbourhood Watch makes a significant contribution towards helping the District become a safer place for all. The event has been designed to show the coordinators how police officers deal with various real life ‘situations’ ranging from incidents involving ‘anti social behaviour’ to ‘bogus’ caller and it is hoped that the evening will give all those involved a better insight into the realities of everyday policing”.
On the evening Chief Superintendent Shields added, “We are delighted at the tremendous turnout this evening for this innovative exercise. It is the first of its kind for the PSNI and we hope to repeat the exercise later in the year. We are delighted with the success of the event and the commitments shown by the Neighbourhood Watch Scheme Coordinators across the District and throughout Northern Ireland. We cannot over emphasis the importance of the local community becoming involved in Neighbourhood Schemes”.
For further information on Neighbourhood Watch Schemes contact your local DPP Manager.