Local NHW Outline

AN OUTLINE OF RINGMER NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

[As provided to Ringmer Parish Council by Janet Skeef]

An Outline of Ringmer Neighbourhood Watch: 18 October 2009

Neighbourhood Watch started in the 1980s when Ken Batchelor organised about nineteen or twenty Watch Schemes in Ringmer, covering most of the village at that time, but unfortunately these dwindled for various reasons.

Neighbourhood Watch has the following main objectives as indicated on the Sussex Police website:

1. To prevent crime - by improving security, increasing vigilance, creating, and maintaining a caring community, and reducing opportunities for crime by increasing crime prevention awareness.
2. To assist the Police in detecting crime - by promoting effective communication and the prompt reporting of suspicious and criminal activity.
3. To reduce the fear of crime - by providing accurate information about risks, and by promoting a sense of security and community spirit, particularly amongst the more vulnerable.
4. To improve police/community liaison - by providing effective means to notify Co-ordinators of local crime trends, and by members advising the police of incidents when they occur.
5. To increase community safety – by providing safety information from other Partnership bodies such as Trading Standards and the Fire & Rescue Service.

There have been many changes since the 1980s, not least the increasing use of email. At one time I maintained a Neighbourhood Watch email list of about 75 local people and PCSO Cathy Clarke gave a lot of support providing local information. Then the police blog system came along, enabling anyone to 'sign on' to receive notification of updates on the police website. Thus my email system became redundant.

Blog updates used to be more frequent than they are now. Except for a few extraordinary happenings like the tyre damaging episode in October 09, blogs are now generally one or two a month, giving advice or summarising recent occurrences.

I and other coordinators receive District Commander's updates, which I include on Ringmer Neighbourhood Watch website; also reports from the Lewes District Crime Reduction Partnership, and printed summaries from Lewes Police to deliver to scheme members who do not have an email facility. I would however point out that these provisions, important as they are, relate to the wider Lewes District area and not specifically to Ringmer. The one exception to this is the local summary provided by PCSOs at Parish Council meetings.

Village News. For several years I have produced brief reports for the Village News (Parish Magazine). About 3 - 4 months ago I notified the magazine editor and the parish clerk that my monthly reports appeared to be at an end, as I had no information with which to produce one at that time. Consequently I do now receive the local monthly summary as provided by PCSOs at council meetings and use these as a basis for my reports.

The Lewes Town and Rural Neighbourhood Watch Association was formed in September 2005 under the chairmanship of Professor Gordon Bull of Lewes, a member of the Sussex Police Authority. The Association committee organised two 'recruiting days' in Ringmer to find co-ordinators and set up Neighbourhood Watch Schemes. The first was in January 2006 which resulted in the formation of ten watch schemes. The second was in July this year (2009) when a further six schemes were established, thus making a total of sixteen. This means there is the now the potential for information to reach upwards of 200 people in a relatively short space of time. Bearing in mind the time and effort of the Association committee members in coming to Ringmer and setting up these schemes, I feel there is scope for more on-going local communication.

Neighbourhood Watch is principally a 'community initiative' supported by police and it is of course a matter for police how and to what extent they are able to provide support. I have no difficulty with that and am well aware that police have more than enough to do, so please understand this is not intended as criticism.

The bottom line is this: Wearing my 'community initiative hat' I would like to encourage more communication within the village. To this end I am inviting people to let me know of any 'watch related' occurrences or information that might usefully be added to Ringmer Neighbourhood Watch website and/or circulated directly to coordinators, but without input there can be no output. In the October Village News I drew attention to an email link on my website which can be used for that purpose. People are concerned to know what is going on round about them and I hope the Parish Council will endorse my attempt to encourage communication and so help to maintain alertness and interest.

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