The Crime Prevention Website

Share:

If you would like to start a Neighbourhood Watch in your local area or restart one that has become extinct (quite a few go extinct) then the first thing you should do is visit the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network’s website - Ourwatch.  On their Home page is a search box.  This enables you to search your area using your postcode to see if there is already a Watch covering your street.  

If I search on my postcode I can see that there isn’t a Watch shown. The nearest Watch to me is 0.51miles away. If I click on that one I'm shown the name of the co-ordinator and using the facilities on the website I can apply to join the scheme or send an email to the co-ordinator.

So, there isn’t a Watch covering my street, which leads me to the next possibility, which is to set one up myself!

If I wanted to do this I would register myself with Ourwatch and they would send me information about how to get started. Registering with them doesn't mean you have to start a scheme, but it's where you would start. However, if you click on the menu bars in the top right hand side of the opening page and then 'knowledge base' you can find out all you need to know about running a scheme. All seems pretty simple!

While you’re on their website you might want to have a look at all their documents. There's not a lot of crime prevention advice there and unfortunately they have always refused to link to my website, which is a shame.

Of course, you can operate a Watch without being associated with the national scheme and if you would prefer to do it this way then I do recommend you approach your neighbourhood police team first. 

Updated August 2017