Within the Humberside Police area, Neighbourhood Watch members are organised into Groups.
A Neighbourhood Watch Group is simply a number of residents operating Neighbourhood Watch within a clearly defined area based upon a single street, a number of adjacent streets or even a complete village.
The group will be headed by an Area Coordinator who will be the primary point of contact with the police and other agencies. They will be the community's focal point for Neighbourhood Watch Activities; distributing information, administering the group and helping to steer the community's efforts to make their neighbourhood a better and safer place to live.
Where a group is larger than say 20-30 houses, a single coordinator will find it difficult to administer it alone. In these cases, the Group is sub-divided into Schemes, each of which has a Scheme Coordinator who assists the Area Coordinator in running the group.
Scheme Coordinators operate within a clearly defined sub-area (perhaps their end of a street) and they distribute information and coordinate Neighbourhood Watch activities on behalf of the Area Coordinator.
Some groups, especially those covering a large number of households, may decide that they can best serve the community by having a full Neighbourhood Watch Committee.
The committee may include a Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, a Treasurer and a
Secretary, any of whom may also be a Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator.
Neighbourhood Watch isn’t the only way of improving your community. Whilst many communities operate Neighbourhood Watch as a ‘stand alone’ initiative, some communities feel that Neighbourhood Watch is an ideal platform for starting or working alongside other community groups.
Some of our member groups have very close links to Residents’ Associations, Parish Councils, Community Associations, Village Hall Committees, Tenants’ Associations, Community Centres, Playing Fields Associations and many more. The great thing about Neighbourhood Watch is that it’s completely ‘transparent’. It can quite comfortably work alongside or in partnership with other community initiatives and in almost every case, it adds further value to those other initiatives.
Wherever you live, be it in a tiny cul-de-sac, a countryside village or on a large estate, HANWaG will be happy to talk to you about establishing a Neighbourhood Watch in your area. We will guide you through every step of the process so that you can achieve the ideal structure for your Neighbourhood Watch group. It's not as complicated as it may seem.
The Area and Scheme Coordinators are probably the most important part of any Neighbourhood Watch Group and consequently the success or failure of the group will be directly linked to their enthusiasm and commitment .
Duties vary considerably from group to group, but they may well include: