Neighbourhood Watch
Neighbourhood Watch first came to York as "The Good Neighbour Scheme" in the late 80’s and then changed its name to Neighbourhood Watch in 1994. Today in York there are around 1,600 schemes covering over 40,000 households - easily the largest Neighbourhood Watch group in North Yorkshire.
There are over 3,000 watch schemes operating in York including Neighbourhood Watch, School Watch, Shop Watch, Pubwatch, Farm Watch, Allotment Watch and even Golf Watch.
Community Watch and Neighbourhood Watch are voluntary organisations supported by the Home Office, Police Force, Council, Safer York Partnership and other voluntary and business groups. In addition the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network for England and Wales aims to link schemes across the country.
The aims and objectives of the scheme are:
To Prevent Crime:
By improving security
By increasing and encouraging vigilance
By protecting the most vulnerable members of the neighbourhood by creating and maintaining a caring community
By reducing levels of theft
By working with other Watch Groups to resolve community issues and crime
To Assist Police in Detecting Crime:
By promoting effective communication
By the prompt reporting of suspicious and criminal activity
To Reduce Crime and the Fear of Crime:
By utilising "people power"
By providing accurate information about risks
By promoting a sense of security and community spirit
A good Neighbourhood Watch scheme will pay dividends, including:
To lower crime rates in the area and lower repeat crime:
A reduction in fear of crime, particularly amongst vulnerable groups
A strong sense of community spirit and an improvement in people’s sense of well being
A greater pride in the area resulting in other benefits, for example lower levels of graffiti and litter, better lighting and cleaner tidier alleyways and a community approach to community problems
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