.png)
Neighbourhood Watch Network
WG07, Vox Studios
1 – 45 Durham Street
Vauxhall
SE11 5JH
2nd June 2021
Dear Neighbourhood Watch Association Leads,
As the restrictions ease and the summer weather is with us, I hope you are all enjoying more contact and social time with family, friends, and neighbours. It is increasingly clear from feedback from members that, as mentioned previously, some people are worried about having more contact and the continued uncertainty of new variants etc. With Neighbourhood Watch Week in a few days’ timeit is important we support all our neighbours and members and follow the Government Guidance.
PROTECT YOUR POOCH campaign – May 2021
The ‘PROTECT YOUR POOCH’ campaign that we ran last month has been extremely successful with a reach of over 270K people on social media and 14K hits on the website landing page. Nearly 4K people clicked on our link to the petition page, and nearly 1K to get their dog microchipped. A further 1K people requested or downloaded a campaign pack to share the campaign locally and our press release was shared in over 28 papers. The campaign message is also scheduled to be published in Kent magazines to be distributed to 29K homes. As you know this additional campaign was in response to the concerns raised by Neighbourhood Watch members about pet crime. The dog theft webinar we ran last weekwas our first and saw over 250 people attend at different times with a further 170 watching the recording on our website. The speakers included Katy Bourne (PCC for Sussex) who is currently championing an increased response to pet theft, along with others leading in pet theft reform and prevention. During the campaign Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, met with local Neighbourhood Watch members and their dogs and spoke about his commitment to the campaign and addressing pet theft.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH WEEK – 5th -11th June 2021
With Neighbourhood Watch Week just a few days away I hope the plans you have in your Associations and areas to celebrate the week are all in place. As you know the theme is ‘Listen. Talk. Do!’ with the aim of supporting people to re-engage in their communities and to encourage the continuation and enhancement of the connections made over the past 15 months. We know that through connections and being active in our communities we all feel safer, we are more resilient, and crime is reduced. We hope that the information, details and resources developed with members that you received last month have been useful and supported and enabled your plans for the week. Please share any stories and photos with us so we can publish these especially of any Big Lunches with you are running.
SLING YOUR HOOK scams campaign and scams webinars – July 2021
We will be running a scams campaign during the month of July. We will send you details of the campaign in mid June. As part of the campaign we have 4 webinars scheduled to run in July. (click on the webinar title below to book your place)
- 6th July, 5pm: Exploring the psychology behind scams and how scammers are so effective at their crimes, Paul Maskell, Fraud & Cyber Crime Prevention Manager, Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU)
- 14th July, 5pm: Insights into how a fraud case is investigated and how not to be the next victim, Ben Hobbs, Detective Sergeant; and Catriona Still, Head of Fraud Prevention & Training, Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU)
- 23rd July, 5pm: Scams awareness training from the Friends Against Scams initiative, The National Trading Standards Scams Team (NTSST)
- 30th July, 5pm: Don't get hooked by scammers! What you need to know about flubot and phishing scams, Christopher Budd, Senior Global Threat Communications Manager, Avast
SUMMER SEMINARS – 17th to 19th August 2021
We will be running the Summer Seminars online again this year due to the ongoing uncertainty and to enable as many people as possible to attend the events. The seminars will be both during the day and in the evening in response to members saying some evening sessions would support those with day-time commitments. The plan is to have a mixture of Central Support Team presentations, presentations from Associations and local groups, and from external speakers. The Seminars will take place on the 17th, 18th and 19th August 2021.
AGM 2021 – November/December 2021
After the AGM held on Zoom last year, we are planning to hold the AGM in person this year. The date will be in November/December, and we will be sending out a hold the date in the next few weeks. Given the continuing uncertainty regarding restrictions we will be using a venue that will enable online conference calling in addition to in person facilities. We hope that this will enable in person contact for those that are able to make this and feel confident this will also enable online attendance for those not wanting to attend in person.
COMPARE THE MARKET and the COMMUNITY GRANT FUND
We have been in contact with Compare the Market who will be using the roundel shape and yellow background in a new advertising campaign. The use of the shape and colour is not restricted but we have negotiated a goodwill fee of £5,000 from Compare the Market that we will put into the next phase of the Community Grant Fund so Associations and local groups can benefit.
Following my letter last month, I haven’t received any feedback against the proposal to alter the Patlock funding for Neighbourhood Watch so it would go directly into the Community Grant Fund for Associations and local groups. As a result, we will be changing Patlock income to go directly into the Community Grant Fund.
ALERT VERSION 4
The roll out of the new Alert community messaging system Version 4 (V4) has begun in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. The Neighbourhood Watch Associations in both areas are liaising with their local police forces and Visav to ensure the transfer works smoothly and to resolve the inevitable problems and snags. The Central Support Team are also working closely with Visav to ensure the needs of Neighbourhood Watch are highlighted and addressed. After the initial roll out of 2-3 police forces Visav are planning a pause. We will be working with them to learn from the initial roll out and develop an implementation plan for other areas and training. Initial learning is making it clear that the local Neighbourhood Watch Association needs to be working as closely as possible with their police force to resolve issues and ensure the system is working for both parties.
I hope your Neighbourhood Watch Week celebrations and activities all go well and please share this letter with your Coordinators,members and partners.
Yours sincerely,
John Hayward-Cripps
CEO, Neighbourhood Watch Network
Comments