Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme Index

Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme was formed in November 1982. Since then the group has been meeting every four months, in January, May and September.

Minutes have been kept of every meeting since the group's inception, creating an archive of almost 100 sets of notes and details of local crime figures and issues affecting the community.

Over the years the group has been responsible for a number of initiatives, including organising DIY enthusiasts in the community to fit safety chains on the doors of elderly neighbours, organising post-coding for bicycles and arranging public meetings for local residents to meet the local police team.

Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme is made up of local residents and the community police officer for the area.

At the meetings the community police officer passes on the latest crime figures to the group and members are invited to contribute to the contents of the next Neighbourhood Watch newsletter. The details are then agreed and printed out in a newsletter.

You can find an edited copy of some of the most recent newsletters in the index on the left of this page.

Newsletters are published after every meeting, but also as one-offs, if the community police officer feels there are issues that need to be raised.

Membership

There are nine Neighbourhood Watch area co-ordinators in Brookmans Park and Little Heath. Seven are committee members.

They are responsible for delivering the newsletters to the 81 local co-ordinators and for passing on police information where necessary.

The local co-ordinators deliver the newsletters to between 10 and 15 homes in their 'patch'.

Not all areas are covered because, the group says, not all people want to be involved in the scheme.

The Area co-ordinators form the core of the meetings and any incidents which cause concern to Neighbourhood Watch members can be passed on to them to be brought up at the meetings.

Any residents can raise an issue, through an area co-ordinator or via your local co-ordinator, and it will be discussed at the next scheduled meeting.

If you don't know your area of local co-ordinator, you can raise the issue with the Christel Anslow, the Watch Liaison Officer, on 01707-638735.

When residents move out of the area and a co-ordinator is lost to the distribution network, the Neighbourhood Watch group tries to find a replacement.

The meetings between area co-ordinators and the local police officer are short, averaging 75 minutes, and are held in the afternoon in different homes by rotation.

Some area co-ordinators and local co-ordinators also receive automated police alerts via the telephone, as does this site, and are asked to pass such messages on to their neighbours.

When such an alert comes through, a news item is usually placed on this site, accompanied by the Neighbourhood Watch Crime Alert symbol.

Background

Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme was set up following an authorisation from Hertfordshire Constabulary.

Under the constitution, Divisional Commanders were given the chance to form Crime Prevention Groups where they felt they were needed.

This included villages where there was a residential Area Beat Officer, as in the case of Brookmans Park.

It also specified that the Divisional Commander could disband any group if he or she considered it necessary, reporting back any such closure to the Crime Prevention Chief Inspectior in Welwyn Garden City.

The group had to be formed from local residents or those working in the area and they had to be approved by the Divisional Commander before joining the group.

No such formalities exist today however, but the community police officer does make enquiries to see whether any local co-ordinators would like to join.

Written reports of each meeting are sent to the Divisional Crime Prevention Panel.

Contacts

If you are interested in becoming involved in Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme, please contact Christel Anslow, the Watch Liaison Officer, on 01707-638735.

The group has taken the decision not to put the details of the area co-ordinators on this site.

Every so often these details are put in the Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme's newsletters, but the group feels such information is better confined to the newsletters for actual members of the scheme, which they feel is a wide enough circulation.

The community police officer can be contacted at his office on (01707-638112).

Brookmans Park Crime Prevention Group

This group acts as a focal point for Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in Brookmans Park, Little Heath and Hawkshead Lane.

Members of the group, which includes local police representation, meet regularly to discuss crime prevention topics and are responsible for the distribution of Police Newsletters and other crime prevention literature to Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators.

Members of the Neighbourhood Watch Schemes in the area can raise matters with the group via their road co-ordinators.

Note: Thanks to Brenda Harris for researching the information for this item on Brookmans Park and Little Heath Neighbourhood Watch Scheme.

February, 2003

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