Neighbourhood Watch – How can it help you?

NHW is designed for people in the community to work together to help fight and deter crime in your local area.   An effective NHW will have communication lines set up to advise residents of crime trends in the area or things to be on the look out for.   A positive community spirit can result in residents being aware of who your neighbours are and to watch out for and report suspicious behaviour that can protect resident’s property.   An active NHW area can deter criminals from committing offences in your area due to the higher risk of detection.   Some insurance companies also give a discount to policy holders whose residence is in a NHW area.   NHW can also assist as a voice to your local council to get them to quickly fix community amenities or other problems that the council have the ability to assist with.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

You can start to be involved by joining our email group.   Please send an email  requesting to be added to the NHW mailing list.   You can then receive current & relevant information that may assist you from being a victim of crime such as:

• Warnings of what & where crime has been committed our area.
• Advice of suspect persons/vehicles in your area
• What cars have been recently stolen  
• Forwarded Police information such as crime alerts
• Share information with other residents about suspicious behaviour or persons to be aware of in your area that can prevent you from becoming a victim
• NHW newsletters

Our Emails are sent out Bcc: so your email address cannot be used for junk emails.   However if you are still concerned about giving out your email address, create an email address just to receive emails from NHW.  (email addresses can easily be created on line such as with hotmail, gmail to name a few)

You can also attend NHW meetings that are held around five times per year.   At these meetings crime problems are not the only subjects discussed.   Our meetings often have a guest speaker and previous topics discussed have been such as how to avoid being a victim of fraud, security alarm systems.   Our meetings are regularly attended by your local Gold Coast Councillor Donna Gates as well as local MP’s.   This is an excellent opportunity for you to raise problems with infrastructure such as broken park equipment or paving.  From experience problems raised to the councillor generally get resolved very quickly.