Neighbourhoods get smart to crime
Warwickshire County Council’s Community Safety Team will be out and about in Warwick this week arming residents with tools and information to keep themselves safe.
The Neighbourhood Watch event will take place on Thursday 24 September, covering Cape Road, and the Percy and Packmore estates in Warwick. It will involve staff from the service, colleagues from Warwickshire Police, Warwick District Council and volunteers from the local community who will be visiting residents to talk to them about setting up local schemes and offer safety advice.
On the day, representatives will be delivering safety information packs door to door and speaking with people to tell them about how they can take more active roles to protect their communities. Residents interested in setting up schemes will be given free samples of Smartwater to invisibly mark their property.
The idea for the campaign came out of a Warwick Community Forum in June, when residents highlighted a lack of neighbourhood watch schemes in the area. Following the meeting, representatives from the county’s community support services mapped out existing schemes to work out where they should target their safety messages.
Sundeep Gill, Community Safety Project Officer said: “We hope to reach and engage with up to 1000 residents, giving them a helping hand to set up neighbourhood watch schemes and a chance to raise any concerns they may have about safety in the area.
“We will start the day at 9.15am on Friday at the Jolly Miller Pub on the junction of Millers Road and Cape Road. Anyone interested in getting more involved in neighbourhood watch is welcome to join us.”
Warwickshire County Councillor Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for Customers, Workforce and Partnerships added: “This awareness raising campaign aims to address a real issue raised by local residents and is a great example of how the county council and its partners are using community forums to tackle local concerns on the ground.”
For more information please visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/communitysafety.