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Category: Headlines Neighbourhood Watch Week 2008 WORKING TOGETHER FOR A SAFER COMMUNITY   First started in Bedford in 1985, Neighbourhood Watch Week is traditionally an annual event which draws the focus of the movement together across the country.   In 2008 the Neighbourhood & Home Watch Week will commence on 16th  June 2008 for one week, and will focus on developing safer communities using the suggested key objectives below:   Doorstep Crime Anti Social Behaviour Engaging the next generation in the wider Watch movement  You may already have set your own local objectives and that is fine, as we acknowledge that you know what issues are important to people in your locality.   We will also be launching the new NHWN website on the same day, this website will not only focus on the traditional roles of the Watch movement:   ·         Being a community based organisation, involving residents and tenants who are working together ·         Working in partnership with the police, local authorities and other agencies to reduce crime and disorder ·         Sharing information and advice with the police and other agencies concerning crime and other incidents   …it will also provide a national focus to take Neighbourhood and Home Watch and the wider Watch movement onto its next challenge. This challenge is for the Watch movement to embrace the Neighbourhood Policing agenda and provide the Police with a ready made structure with which to develop the local consultation, engagement and problem solving required to deliver not only crime prevention but public reassurance.    By way of background we know that local communities want to engage with local service providers, such as the Police, when they see visible efforts being made to address community problems and especially when they have a say in how these problems should be tackled.  There is considerable overlap in the aims of Neighbourhood Policing and the Neighbourhood Watch movement, particularly in respect of crime prevention, sharing intelligence and identifying issues of local concern.   Effective working together between Neighbourhood & Home Watch schemes and the Police will not only provide greater opportunity to find sustainable solutions to local problems but may also install a greater willingness on their part to become actively involved in the welfare and safety of their own community.    The community focus which Neighbourhood Policing affords has delivered to the Watch movement a challenge to take its message beyond its’ traditional partnership with the Police and into a wider arena.  Community Safety Partnerships in many areas of the country have realised how our Watch network, built up over the past 25 years can be used to benefit local communities.  Neighbourhood & Home Watch Week 2008 will with the partnerships established at local level seek to address the key issues which are seen to affect the local community.   Our mission is to work collectively together to tackle those issues of crime and disorder of most concern.  Our work together is driven by a desire to help local people feel safer: become more involved with reducing crime and the fear of crime; and to support the most vulnerable people within our communities.   ‘Safer communities are stronger communities and vice versa’     Marion Lewis Chair:  Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network ( England & Wales)   16th April 2008

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