1. Publicising Good News
A theme identified as important to NHW members is the need to feel that the effort being put in is worthwhile. To this end we need to make sure that any examples of crimes prevented or detected as a result of information or intelligence from NHW sources is publicised, not only to the local press, but also within NHW.

Our Watch Liaison Officers are in a position to share and disseminate information across the County and also have links with local and central Press Officers. There is nothing, however, to prevent NHW members contacting the press themselves if something newsworthy occurs. Local radio stations, too, have expressed an interest in good community-based stories and a phone call to them can lead to an ad hoc interview and good publicity spread across the county and beyond.

2. Making Communities feel safer and NHW in High Priority Areas
Getting Households on board

A benefit of NHW membership is the fact that it can bring communities together. This is generally the case on a street/small estate level if sufficient households join in the scheme. We maybe need to utilise more often the idea of saying “Your residence is now part of a NHW scheme, you may opt out if you wish”.

This method may also be effective in dealing with High Priority streets/estates. Instead of waiting for volunteers to come forward in the first instance, the plan would be to utilise Watch Liaison Officers , Police community Support Officers , Ward Constables and any available volunteers to leaflet and/or knock on doors, bringing the message that the household is now part of a NHW scheme. There could be a call for people to come forward as Co-ordinators, but if they weren’t forthcoming, then WLOs, PCSOs, NHW volunteers from other areas could undertake to administer the scheme while the notion of being in a scheme was bedded-in and hopefully the benefits appreciated.

Reclaiming the Streets
A common theme right across the county, probably the country, is how the streets and neighbourhoods become virtual no-go areas for law-abiding citizens. In many cases, a tiny minority of people are preventing the majority from carrying out their normal day-to-day activities. No matter whether this is due to actual criminal activity or simply the fear of crime, something clearly needs to be done.

An initiative tried in some areas has been to hold street corner meetings. This may involve a mobile police station, or just some constabulary staff in high-visibility jackets, sometimes using this tactic for a start-up meeting, or alternatively to discuss a local issue or issues. Either way, this can be an effective method of showing a street or neighbourhood just how people may share the same concerns and wish to solve local problems.

Particularly pro-active NHW and Street Watch schemes have taken the initiative of walking the streets in groups of 4 – 6 people (any fewer may be, or feel vulnerable, any more can appear threatening). This may be just to see what’s happening in the neighbourhood and show residents that it’s not just youths on the streets in the evening, or it may be to deliberately stand and talk in the vicinity or perceived nuisance youths/adults in an effort to discourage any criminal or threatening behaviour. Care should be taken at all times, and if in doubt, err on the side of safety. Consider contacting local Ward Constable or PCSO to see if they are available to accompany you for all or part of the outing.

Education and the Fear of Crime
Some of the initiatives mentioned in the previous section may be unnecessary however. A possible solution to some of the fear of crime elements keeping people indoors may be to educate NHW members and other citizens on the ways and fashions of young people. Perhaps, through liaison with schools, or just by asking younger relations or neighbours. Young people could be identified to address meetings. This could serve a variety of purposes:

• NHW/older citizens could see that youths who apparently dress and behave in a threatening fashion are actually decent people if you talk to them
• The message could also be put across that it is young people who are most likely to become victims of crime and it is their interest too to live in a safer environment

Some of these young people may come to see the value of NHW and become involved themselves and/or encourage their parents to do so.

3. Lobbying on other issues
A recurring theme during discussions on keeping NHW active and relevant was, perhaps surprisingly to some, the problem of areas where there is very little crime. The issue in such areas is that, with little or no crime or nuisance behaviour being reported, schemes felt they had little discuss and therefore no real reason to meet and there was a danger that schemes would therefore drift into a terminal decline.

This is one of the areas in which NHW needs to be open to change. Even if crime is not a major issue locally, it’s rare if there are absolutely no issues in a neighbourhood. You may wish to consider contacting/lobbying other agencies on issues of concern, for example:

• Local Councils (waste collection, street lighting, condition of pavements etc)
• Highways Agency (Road issues)
• Trading Standards (Rogue traders, setting-up No Cold-Calling Zone)

It is important that we don’t allow people’s enthusiasm to drop off, so consider all issues and remember that NHW is the biggest volunteer organisation we have, so there is a lot of lobbying power which can be brought to bear if action is needed. Even if a scheme is only brought together for social events, it would be better than the scheme folding completely. Get together and congratulate yourselves on your success at keeping crime to a minimum.

4. Sharing Information and Best Practice
Each District has a lead NHW Volunteer, a Community Co-ordinator(CCO), usually with one or more deputies. CCOs meet every two months at HertsWatch meetings and are given the opportunity to report on examples of Best Practice, share concerns, good news stories and general information on NHW across the County.
Likewise, the 10 Watch Liaison Officers also come together every 2 months on a similar basis.

For these meetings to be of real value, it is important to have as much input from NHW as possible. Make sure anything of interest, any problems you’ve overcome, anything that’s worked well, are shared with your CCO and WLO for wider dissemination.

There is a mine of experience and information within NHW which often seems to be left un-tapped. We will be duplicating work across the county if we fail to share news of work undertaken, problems solved and initiatives undertaken.

5. Links to other Groups
As detailed above, there are ways in which we can share information between NHW schemes in Hertfordshire. There may however, be other groups in your district with whom it may be beneficial to make contact.

Tenants and Resident’s Associations often have the same cares and concerns as NHW and have, in some areas, already become affiliated members. Housing Associations and Sheltered Housing schemes can likewise be brought on board.

Other local community groups may also be interested in linking with NHW; visit your local community centres and libraries to see what is active in your area and consider if it would be beneficial to get in touch.

6. Use of Web Sites
If NHW wishes to engage with a broader cross-section of the community, then we need to look at different methods of getting or message across. For a substantial proportion of the population, the primary source of information on most topics is the Internet. If someone types in “Neighbourhood Watch” and their town in a search engine (internet information-seeking tool) and don’t find anything, they may assume NHW is not active locally.

Web sites are relatively simple to create and plenty of sites provide space free of charge. If you lack the computer skills to undertake this yourself, there is a good chance that someone else involved in NHW in your area will be able to do so. This may prove a good way of engaging a NHW member who does not usually become actively involved.

Sites can be kept simple, just providing contact details for anyone wishing to become involved in NHW, although better still would be a regularly updated site, of course.

Again, if you already have a web site, or are starting one up, let your WLO/CCO know so that examples of NHW sites can be shared and links to related sites added.

7. Alternative Meeting Venues and Times
There is a saying that “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”. In some areas, processes and procedures have changed and improved of late, but the NHW meeting generally remains almost precisely as it has always been.

The traditional mid-evening, midweek timing is often cited as putting potential NHW activists off becoming involved. The only real variation on this comes in the form of “Community Involvement Days” or similar, which are often held at the weekend. These are often broadly Community Safety in terms of theme and rarely focus specifically on NHW.

NHW may wish to consider trialling a different meeting time for standard Co-ordinator’s meetings to see if numbers are affected, for example, holding a meeting on a Saturday or Sunday morning. It could prove that existing activists are still able to attend, but that those whose work and/or family commitments had precluded their involvement are now able to turn up.

Similarly, there are various groups who already use public halls and community centres, such as Toddler Groups, religious groups, Women’s Institute and various hobby groups and societies who would be willing to allow NHW to “piggy-back” into their meetings with a brief presentation.

If there is a large employer in the area, they may be willing to allow NHW onto the premises to set up a stall outside the canteen or perhaps even present to a training day; there would be value in this even if a proportion of the employees work outside the immediate area.

I am sure that there are a number of other ideas on how to spread the NHW message; the key is that we try something different.

Hard-to Reach Groups
When discussing Hard-to-reach groups from a NHW point of view, there is often a temptation to go directly for Youths, Faith Communities, and other commonly quoted ‘minority groups’. In fact, the hardest to reach group is probably that of working people under the age of 45 -  a substantial minority.

As touched on in some sections above, there are aspects to the current structure of NHW, particularly in terms of meetings, which discourage involvement of large parts of the population. Likewise, the idea of single-issue meetings and alternative forms of membership may provide a way of engaging with broader sections of the community.

The best way to find out what will encourage people to become involved is probably simply to ask them. This could be done via public meetings, but a first option may be some form of local survey, asking about perceptions and experience of NHW and finding out what, if anything, would encourage them to become involved if they aren’t already.

8. Mobile Police Stations
The sight of a Mobile Police Station can often attract interest. If you think there is a venue locally at which it would be useful to use the Mobile Station to get people involved in NHW, as well as to pass on Crime Prevention information, contact your local WLO with the suggestion. Similarly, if there is a fete or other event locally which is likely to be well-attended, make sure your WLO is aware.

If on such occasions you can mobilise local NHW members to attend and speak to members of the public about the benefits of NHW, so much the better.

9. Links with Partner Agencies
Each District has various groups which are involved in the fight against crime and building communities. If you are not already in contact with them, consider forging links with Crime Prevention Panels and Crime Reduction Groups.

Each District has a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) - the name may differ in some Districts - and senior NHW people are becoming increasingly involved.

Make yourself know to your local Councillors and ensure that they are aware of your concerns.

Local Trading Standards officers can provide crime prevention advice with regards to bogus callers and rogue traders and, if there is demand locally, can help to set up a No Cold Calling zone in your area.

The more people we can engage with in the fight against crime and the fear of crime, the more effective we will be.

10. Snipers
Not as drastic as it sounds; a SNIPER is an acronym for Single Neighbourhood Issue Person Expecting Results.
Many people seem to attend NHW meetings with a view to airing their feelings on a particular issue, rather than being concerned with Chairperson’s Reports, Treasurer’s Reports and so forth, and may be put off returning because of perceived bureaucracy or inactivity.

What may get people to become involved is if a meeting were to be held with a view to addressing a single topic, such as Anti-Social Behaviour, or Youths riding mopeds/motorised scooters inappropriately, or issues surrounding a local “hot spot”, such a park, pub or shops.

The meeting could initially be used to gauge the extent of the problem and the strength of feeling among residents. Current Problem-Solving techniques, which your WLO, CCO and Community Police will be familiar with, could be employed at this meeting if appropriate, or a smaller working group selected to do so at a later date. Anyone interested in continuing to work on the issue could be given the option to sign up to a mailing/e-mailing list and the meeting could also highlight any local NHW schemes or the possibility of setting one up.
Some of the work here may seem to fall under the umbrella of locality policing and Neighbourhood panels, where they exist, but there is still a broad canvass element to these rather than the single-issue work .

11. Alternative Membership
The more active NHW membership we have, the more successful we are likely to be able to make it. We need to have the flexibility to allow individuals to receive NHW information even if they are the only interested individuals/households in the street or area. If that person is willing to disseminate information and attempt to “recruit” neighbours, then so much the better, but in any case, nobody expressing an interest in NHW should be turned away due to poor local interest.

In the longer term, we will need to examine the possibility of having similarly solo, IT-only members, who can sign-up for crime and crime-prevention messages without being expected to attend meetings or even be listed as being part of a scheme.

Any ideas which you have regarding getting more people involved in NHW should be passed on to your WLO/CCO.

Summary
For Neighbourhood Watch to thrive, it will need to adapt. I have only scratched the surface in the work above of what can or must be done to attract new and diverse people into the organisation while keeping existing members involved and enthused. The advent of new technology, as exemplified by the OWL (www.owl.co.uk) will help with this, although we need to ensure that those without computer skills or access are not left behind.
Getting NHW to achieve results, to resolve local issues and to widely publicise such successes will be key to this, as a common thread in various discussions has been the desire to feel that all the effort is worthwhile.
There will also be a drive in the coming year to analyse and improve on NHW coverage in High Demand (i.e. high crime and/or high deprivation) areas. If we achieve good results in this area, it should not only mean a blow against crime and the fear of crime where most needed, but will also bring on board new people with different ideas from diverse backgrounds.

I don’t see this as being a finished document. Rather, I would hope that it may spark discussions at meetings at all levels. If NHW members wish, workshops will be run again on this topic, using this document as a starting point, but adding to it and developing ideas as NHW itself grows and develops.

Thank you to everyone who has given input into this work; I will always welcome comments and suggestions to the addresses shown below.