Safety in your community

What can you do to keep your community safe? Find out about the following community groups with this information from the Home Office

Neighbourhood Watch

Street Watch

Neighbourhood constables

Crime prevention panels

Youth action groups

Voluntary organisations

Neighbourhood Watch
Neighbourhood Watch schemes are a way for people in an area to get together to help prevent crime and make their neighbourhood a safer place. Neighbourhood Watch is known as Home Watch in some areas, but both work along similar lines and are built on the same idea - of looking after one another and the neighbourhood.

How does it work?
Groups can vary in size, depending on the area and what people want. They target local concerns - like burglary, vandalism or graffiti and devise ways of dealing with them. Individual members decide how active they want to be in the scheme. You could become a committee member or even co-ordinator of a group - or you could just keep an eye on your neighbours' house while they're away.

Schemes develop close links with the police, who can provide advice and information about local problems. Well-run schemes can have a big impact on local crime.