Calling all Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators!

The following information below is from the chief executive officer of the national Neighbourhood Watch Network. 

They are looking to create toolkits and would like your input.  For more information, please read on. 

New, practical Crime & Vulnerability Toolkits and NW Development Seminars

In consultation with our principle funder the Home Office we have secured funding to develop a set of 5 practical Toolkits on various crime and vulnerability issues.

This is to support what we have heard from a range of NW leads that some coordinators and members want to do more but are unsure how. The toolkits will be information and practical guides, from a NW perspective, to help address a range of crimes and issues that can cause significant harm to victims.

The 5 themes of the toolkits are:

• Domestic Abuse – which as we know affects all communities
• Serious Violence – particularly knife crime
• Vulnerability and loneliness – to increase community cohesion
• Fraud and scams – particularly relevant for vulnerable people
• High harm crimes – Modern Slavery, Child Sexual Exploitation.

We are working on the content of these at the moment in consultation with a range of expert charities in the relevant fields and with local coordinators and NW members.

Once developed, these Crime & Vulnerability Toolkits will be shared with you and on our website and will be a practical resource to be used by local Neighbourhood Watches in delivering additional focus or local projects on the various themes.

The Toolkits will contain information, best practice, printable and downloadable materials and practical advice on using them and developing a local project or programme. The advantage of working with local NW’s is that the information and materials will be relevant and usable by coordinators and members.

While some of these themes may not at first appear to be traditional themes for NW there is a key role we can all play in supporting our communities and our police partners to address these significant issues which affect all our communities especially vulnerability, scams and domestic abuse.

We are also planning an additional toolkit later in the year focused on using social media, benefits and issues and sharing good practice.

NW Development Seminars – June/July 2018

In supporting the launch of these Toolkits we will be holding a set of SIX day-long NW Development Seminars around the country with 2 key aims:

1. to develop a group of local Champions in using these Toolkits at practical workshops during the Seminar and act as a local resource to other coordinators/members
2. to consult members from all Force /Borough areas on an updated NWN 2018-21 Strategy for the organisation for the next 3 years. NWN Trustees will be in attendance.

The NW Development Seminars will take place at the end of June / early July and invitations for a representative from your Force Area/London borough will be sent once the dates and venues are confirmed. Ideally the representatives for each seminar would be the Area/Borough chair or lead and 1 or 2 additional NW representatives who would like to act as Champions.

Representatives are only expected to attend one seminar – the nearest one that is practical for them. Travelling expenses, in line with our policy, will be paid but not overnight stays.

The Seminars will be held in the following cities:

Helping us to identify ADDITIONAL people to attend the NW Development Seminars to become local Champions for the 5 Crime & Vulnerability Toolkits

After consulting with some Force Area leads we want to use two ways to identify these local Champions for each Force / London borough areas.

1. Can you nominate or recommend people within your area/borough who could attend one of the NW Development Seminars and be prepared to act as a local Champion and will take the additional knowledge back to your area to support other volunteers to get involved in using the packs? Can you encourage them to sign up for a Seminar? Perhaps you know of coordinators or members with previous experience or specific interest in these types of crime types? Do you have other, really keen people within your network who may wish to attend the seminars, to take part in the workshops and pick up the roles of Champions locally?

If you do please ask them to get in touch with Sian Dawson, NWN Finance Manager-  who will be administering the Seminars on  sian.dawson@ourwatch.org.uk

2. We will also be extending an invitation for additional people in our wider NW network to attend the NW Development Seminars and become Champions using the Our News newsletter which is due to be published WC April 30. As you know this goes to almost 400k Alert users and is also published on our website and social media accounts. We will be asking those interested to contact their local Association leads.

Please do let us know what you think about this approach or if you have suggestions how we can improve our reach to ensure we identify our new Champions.

With my thanks and good wishes,

John Hayward-Cripps

CEO

NWN