ENSURING our residents feel safe in their homes and in their communities is of paramount importance in our work.

That’s why communication between our local police team and residents is so important.

Neighbourhood Watch is a network of community champions, whose role is to provide a link between our local police team and local residents; crime incidents, alerts and witness appeals are e-mailed by the police to individual volunteers known as street co-ordinators.

Shop Watch has been added to our title because of the impact of shoplifting; in these hard times, shoplifting could tip the balance between having our array of shops and related jobs to a retail sector potmarked with empty premises.

Our shops need our vigilance and support as they battle to stay in business, we can help; crime cannot live in a community that cares.

The problem is that to be effective, co-ordinators need to be able to:

  • Receive police alert and witness appeal e-mail messages;
  • Communicate those messages to residents in their street; 
  • Encourage residents that are elderly and have no computer, lack internet knowledge and have no emails to take up our free internet and computer training;
  • Be aware of social media opportunities to increase communication between neighbours via texts, Facebook or Twitter, encourage users to support each other;
  • Improve residents’ awareness of the latest subsidised forensic marking solutions for their property, combined with effective locks and alarms;
  • Encourage residents to have a free fire safety, fire alarm and electric blanket checks;
  • Provide details of people in their street that are First Aid trained in case of emergency or direct them to subsidised training via Neighbourhood Watch;
  • Direct residents to our website for additional support.

Our current record of co-ordinators was on a database kept by the police, lost after they moved to a new messaging system.

The reason for that change is that it takes five officers/support staff to maintain this – because of cuts in the police budget they now have just one officer for the task.

Many of our co-ordinators are not internet connected and have no e-mail address, so the new system will not support their efforts, therefore we have a crisis.

Working with Worcestershire County Council, we now provide free internet and computer training at the Octagon, just off Poolbrook Road and Watkins Way.

Anyone can benefit, co-ordinators and residents alike.

Important to you? Please e-mail us, right now, if you are or want to become an active registered member, or Neighbourhood and Shop Watch street co-ordinator.

MARTIN LAWRENCE Chair, Malvern Neighbourhood and Shop Watch