At the previous meeting in November, several interested people had put their names forward as interested in developing existing or establishing new watch schemes. A couple of new coordinators had already applied to register their new groups being set-up in the village. All those who had left their details at the initial meeting had been encouraged to contact nearby residents to establish local interest and invite them along to learn more at the meeting.

Twenty three people came along on a chilly evening, but the meeting was warm and friendly. Carol gave a general introduction and some background information about the scheme (as covered in the previous meeting), for the benefit for the of people who were new to the neighbourhood watch. There were also information booklets and welcome packs available, along with stickers and useful crime reduction literature, to take away for others interested in the scheme.

Our area beat policeman, PC Brian Price, then answered a few questions, mainly on apparent lack of interest when reporting incidents to the police control.
An suspicious caller was mentioned, but once it had been established that no immediate police presence was required, the control centre seemed to loose interest, and nobody had followed up the report. PC Price stated his surprise that it was not apparently investigated, as bogus callers were a high priority and taken very seriously, though not a recent event, he took details of the incident.
Also mentioned were burglar alarms, when there was no concern from the control centre, after it appeared to be a false alarm. PC Price mentioned that for persistent nuisance burglar alarms (they should only ring for only 20 mins) a formal letter of warning is sent to the address which usually had the required effect. But stressed that proper alarm system was a significant deterrent to most burglars, who were often just on the look out for easy targets.

PC Price ended with saying that as we were the eyes and ears of the local community and as such should be encouraged to report anything suspicious. To this end he suggested requesting the URN (incident reference number) when reporting any incident to the police, then if we were not satisfied with the action taken, to pass on the URN to him (via local NHW coordinator or Carol) and he would check on the report on our behalf, to see what had happened.

Those present then split in to three main groups, depending on where they lived, to organise with a coordinator for their various areas. The registration form and a street plan with those covered by each area drawn up, these were given to Carol who would pass them on to establish the new groups.
The meeting finished with coffee and biscuits.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Neighbourhood Watch can help you to make a difference to the area in which you live. Neighbourhood Watch aims to: Reduce the fear of crime Build up a community spirit To work in partnership with the police and other authorities to resolve issues in your area What we can do for you: Inform you of any increase of crime which may effect you Send you newsletters and crime prevention information Invite you to meetings with local officers and discuss any local issues or problems After completion of a form, give you messages from our ringmaster system, which is a fast and effective way for the police to communicate with communities about local crimes and warnings of crimes in your area. YOU MAY ALSO BE ENTITLED TO DISCOUNT ON YOUR HOUSE INSURANCE