1. About Neighbourhood Watch
What does Neighbourhood Watch do? It’s up to you. Every Neighbourhood Watch group is different because each is owned and run by the people of its community. You and your neighbours come together to make your area a safe and pleasant place to live. You decide what measures to take because you know your own community's needs best. But you’re not on your own.
Toolkits
This and our other Toolkits should give you all the information you’ll need about starting, running or being part of a Neighbourhood Watch group. Your group will also draw on support from police, local authorities, fire and rescue services and the voluntary sector and anyone else who can help increase safety in the community.
As you probably know, Neighbourhood Watch - also known as Home Watch in some areas - is one of the UK’s largest community crime prevention initiatives, with 158,000 schemes and representation at all levels in the police force. Neighbourhood Watch is not run by the police, but most police forces have dedicated members of staff working with it. To find out who yours is, visit Your Local Area. More information about the relationship between Neighbourhood Watch and the police is available in the toolkit How we work with the police.
Schemes can cover whole estates or villages or just a few houses. Neighbours look out for each other and report problems around their homes. Schemes can also be vital to community spirit, improving the neighbourhood and providing facilities for older residents, young people and more.
Find out more
To read in more detail about what Neighbourhood Watch can do for you and your community, download the full version of this toolkit.
You may also like to read: Measuring Neighbourhood Watch: Views of Effectiveness.
To find out more about joining or setting up a group, read the next toolkit, Getting involved
