Neighbourhood Watch by e-mail – Hastings

Neighbourhood Watch by e-mail takes advantage of e-mail as a fast, inexpensive, mass-distribution medium. It combines the efforts of the police, Trading Standards, the Fire and Rescue Service, Neighbourhood Watch and local residents in the fight against local crime. One of the largest schemes is the Hastings and Rother scheme which has over 3,000 members. It is free for anyone in the local area who has access to e-mail. To join they simply send an e-mail to the designated police e-mail address to say they wish to join the scheme.

All messages are sent out as blind copy (bcc) so that e-mail addresses remain private. Messages are issued regularly about specific local crimes, scams and bogus callers, together with crime prevention advice, good news and appeals from local voluntary networks.

Sussex Police conducted a web-based questionnaire at the end of the first year of Hastings and Rother’s pilot which showed that as a result of the scheme 93 per cent of respondents felt more informed by Sussex Police, 83 per cent felt more in touch with Sussex Police and 20 per cent had made contact with Sussex Police to report crimes or provide information.

The survey also found that 26 per cent of respondents felt that the fear of crime had reduced and 74 per cent felt part of a safer community as a result of the scheme.

The scheme is supported by the Safer Hastings and Safer Rother Partnerships, the Sussex Neighbourhood Watch Federation and Sussex Police.