Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood watch scheme, this scheme is an easy scheme to start if all the residents in the area are ready to cooperate with each other. Neighbourhood watch is a crime prevention program that emphasizes on education and common sense. It teaches residents how to protect themselves by identifying and reporting about suspicious people and activity that might take place in their neighbourhood. It gives the residents an opportunity to make their neighbourhood a safer place to live and improve the quality of life of everyone in the area. Neighbourhood watch groups focus on observation and awareness as a means of preventing crime and makes use of different methods to educate and prepare the residents for the important job of taking care of the safety of their area or neighbourhood.

Neighbourhood crime prevention groups are organised around the block, colony or a neighbourhood and these crime prevention groups can be started with the support of law enforcement agencies in that area. In most neighbourhoods in my area they usually employ a security guard from a security company but I am not sure how effective and successful this scheme is, because it is the same guard on duty every single night and at some stage he could be our enemy instead of our friend. If the security was done by the residents on a rotation basis I am sure the scheme would be more successful.

All neighbourhood watches have one thing in mind and that is to bring the community together to make their quality of life in the neighbourhood better and reduce crime rate in their area so they can feel secure. Everyone knows that neighbourhood watch schemes that are carried out now days are very effective in controlling crime in an area.

Residents of that area should request the police to organise workshops that will educate the residents on how to protect themselves and how to prevent crimes from happening , they can also be asked to start self-defense classes for the residents. The success of this scheme totally depends on the residents and their involvement.