Neighbourhood Watch is one of the biggest and most successful crime prevention initiatives ever.
It’s all about working in partnership with your neighbours to look out for each other and your property, and reporting any suspicious activity to the police.
Neighbourhood Watch has the full support of South Wales Police, and can really help to protect your local area from crime.
The schemes can:
- cut crime through swift reporting of anything suspicious
- cut opportunities for crime by raising awareness of simple precautions
- help and reassure those who live in the area
- encourage neighbourliness and closer communities
A ‘Watch’ usually begins when a member of the community volunteers to become a Coordinator for their street, block of flats, estate, or general area. The Coordinator then registers with the Neighbourhood Watch Association, and visits neighbours in a bid to enlist them onto the scheme.
As Coordinator, you will liaise with police on a regular basis to discuss new information, and be responsible for keeping the members of your Watch updated.
Any further activity is entirely up to you. You might want to hold informal meetings with the other members of your Watch, meet with other Co-ordinators to compare notes, or form a group of all the Co-ordinators in your area and invite a police representative to discuss the future well-being of your community.
You or other members of your Watch could also go to your local PACT meeting to discuss updates with your neighbourhood policing team.
For more information about Neighbourhood Watch in your area, call your local Crime Reduction Tactical Advisor on the following numbers:
Cardiff: Bob Keohane - 029 2052 7432
Swansea: Tony Pain - 01792 562768
Vale of Glamorgan: Dick Collins – 01446 731627
Bridgend: Deborah Elward - 01656 679558
Neath / Port Talbot: Mary Williams - 01639 889178
Methyr Tydfil: Stephen Cooke - 01685 724267
Rhondda Cynon Taf: Anthony Pitt - 01685 724266
South Wales: Rhiannon Williams – 029 2052 7447
Mini com helpline for the deaf: 01656 656980
Alternatively, visit: www.neighbourhoodwatch.net
To find out more about your local neighbourhood policing team, visit www.ourbobby.com