11. Working in your community

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Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch groups are owned by the communities they serve, not by the police or any other agency. Communities vary hugely, so it’s important to look closely at your local needs and be creative in meeting them.

The Department for Communities & Local Government Barrier-Busting website can help you to get things done for your local community. If you've already tried to resolve a problem at a local level but are still experiencing barriers, you can use the website to contact the barrier-busting team who will try to help you.

Rural communities

Rural areas tend to be sparsely populated, with many people isolated. The most common crimes are theft of agricultural machinery and fly tipping. Countryside specific schemes include Farmwatch, Countryside Watch and Rural Watch.

The Home Office provides a Rural crime toolkit.

Example: East Hertfordshire Neighbourhood Watch

Crime is low, but people can feel vulnerable due to isolation and low police presence. The scheme provides pagers to help people communicate with police.

Minority groups

Minority groups are most likely to suffer crime and their fear of crime is highest. Be sensitive in situations where people's first language is not English.

Further information is available at Communities.gov.uk.

Example: NorthWestTwo Residents Association, Cricklewood, London

The group communicates with residents via the web and a newsletter, with some materials translated into Polish, and plans to hold meetings at the local mosque.

Old people

Many pensioners are especially vulnerable to crime and their fear of it is often high. Neighbourhood Watch advises them on home security and helps them contact other agencies.

Example 1: Harborough Be Safe, Market Harborough, Leicestershire

This group provides advice for local elderly and vulnerable people and, where appropriate, offers free security enhancement.

Example 2: Flintshire Neighbourhood Watch Association, Wales

This association manages the 50+ Forum Development Project.

Operation Liberal

This is a national police response to ‘distraction burglary’ or bogus callers. It promotes the message: ‘NOT SURE? DON’T OPEN THE DOOR!’ and shares information across force boundaries. Read further information on distraction burglary at Direct.Gov.

Anti-social behaviour

A broad term covering nuisance neighbours, intimidating groups in public spaces, vandalism (including graffiti and flyposting), drug dealing, rubbish dumping, begging, anti-social drinking, misuse of fireworks and reckless driving. While police have tools for this, Neighbourhood Watch can offer support and aid prevention. A key resource is the Police.UK website with a postcode search for local resources.

You can read more about anti-social behaviour measures at Direct.Gov.

Example: Stevenage Dog Watch, Hertfordshire

Local parks were attracting drunken troublemakers and fly tipping. Dog Watch has been going for a year, enlisting dog walkers to report criminal activity.

Young people

Many Neighbourhood Watch members are older, so young people are important for the future. Neighbourhood Watch benefits from their knowledge of the community and helps them see the value of strong social cohesion.

It is important to see young people as part of the community in which they live and not to stereotype them if they gather in groups and classify them as being anti-social or threatening.

Most young people like to socialise in groups and are looking for activities that will offer them fun, challenges and other educational and leisure opportunities such as music, sports and arts.

Some young people will need support because of difficulties in their lives when they might need to be referred to more specialist agencies that offer counselling, mentoring, advice and information.

Catch 22 is a national charity that works with young people who find themselves in difficult situations and believes ‘every young person deserves the chance to get on in life - no matter what.' You can read Catch 22's Impact Report from 2009/10 here.

Junior Neighbourhood Watch is a very successful partnership with Cleveland Police and other partners Cleveland Fire Brigade, North East Ambulance Service, RNLI, Victim Support, Magistrates in the Community, Stockton Borough Council and the Safer Stockton Partnership.

Services for young people

There are many services on offer for young people which are life-enhancing, diversionary and would help young people in difficulty. These services are dependant on the needs of young people and their interests and include:

Details of your local Youth Service and Youth Offending Team can be found through your local authority or association of voluntary services.

Young people in difficult situations

Some young people get themselves into or are born into situations that put them more at risk of educational and social exclusion such as young people in care, young people born into unstable family life or simply in risky neighbourhoods where there are gangs and drugs available.

Also there are many issues which affect young people’s ‘transition to adulthood’. Catch 22’s Ready or Not report gives examples of successful responses to 5 specific risk factors: homelessness; drug taking; not in education, employment or training (NEET); offending and leaving care.

Most local services will be working closely to minimise risk factors and strengthen protective factors to improve the life chances of young people and make communities safer.

Citizenship and volunteering

Catch 22 offers services nationally. For details of their projects please click here. Also as part of the Big Society there are citizenship programmes and more details of these can be found here.

These programmes will give opportunities for young people from different areas and social groups to join together in community-based and residential activities.

There are also many volunteering opportunities in your locality for young people which can be found by contacting your local association of voluntary services and for Catch 22’s volunteering opportunities please click here.

What makes a successful youth project?

There are many examples of successful projects which can evidence positive outcomes for young people and impact in the community such as reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and drug use.

Here are some examples from Catch 22:

1. Youth Crime Prevention

Positive Futures – Kings Norton, South Birmingham

This is a national sports and arts social inclusion programme for young people. Funded by the Home Office, the programme gives young people the chance to develop the skills needed to get on a positive career path and take on roles as active and responsible citizens. Click here for more information on the programme and other Positive Futures projects.

Launched in 2001 and managed by Catch 22, the programme is delivered through 118 projects in some of the most deprived communities across England and Wales.

The programme helps young people from deprived communities steer clear of crime, drug and alcohol misuse and move forward in their lives.

At the heart of Positive Futures is a strong, shared commitment to reaching young people ‘where they are’, building relationships of respect and trust and supporting them to succeed.

They work on the three estates of Kings Norton (Primrose, Pool Farm and Hawkesley) in South Birmingham.

They use a range of activities, such as:

All activities are fun but also have meaning for the young people and the local community. The activities are regular so that young people know where and when they can find us.

Cardiff Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP)

There are over 100 Youth Inclusion Programmes across England and Wales and they aim to reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods where they work. They are tailor-made for young people identified as being at high risk of involvement in offending or anti-social behaviour working closely with local referral agencies such as schools and police.

Youth Inclusion Programmes give young people somewhere safe to go where they can learn new skills, take part in activities with others and get help with their education and careers guidance. Positive role models – the workers and volunteer mentors – help to change young people's attitudes to education and crime. For further information click here.

The Youth Inclusion Programme in Cardiff works with eight to 16-year-olds who are at risk of social exclusion in the East and West of Cardiff.

Barnet Action 4 Youth

Their work aims to improve young people’s chances in life by tackling and reducing the risk factors associated with crime.

These include: previous school exclusions, low academic achievement, poor school attendance, unstructured use of leisure time, emotional or behavioural problems, poor communications skills, and low confidence and self-esteem.

The types of projects run include:

The project is successful because of the strong and trusting relationships built up between staff and young people, and also because of the good relationships with the local community and other agencies, particularly schools and the police.

80% of young people who completed the anger management course had benefited from participating and had improved their behaviour in the six to 12 months following the course. (Independent evaluation, 2008.)

2.Improving education, training and employment opportunities

Auto 22 in Gravesend

This project runs car mechanic apprenticeships for young people which improves their employment chances and offers, with supervision, general maintenance and car repairs just like a normal business.

South East Training Project in Portsmouth

This project was started 25 years ago and has helped young people make a positive start to their careers through training programmes, skills development and apprenticeships. This project has a 58% success rate in moving young people into education, training and employment.

‘Steps to Success’ in South Yorkshire

Young Offenders are referred to this project from the Probation Service and this project will help young adult offenders with basic literacy and numeracy skills, thereby improving their employment opportunities.

3. Making communities safer

Community Space Challenge in Hackney

This project works with young people aged 8 – 17 who work hard to improve community spaces and learn new skills and improve the profile of young people in the neighbourhood in which they live. There are 70 other projects and more information about the programme, including your local project, can be found here.

4. Tackling drug and alcohol misuse and improving healthy living

24/7 in Surrey and Hampshire

This project offers specialist drug and alcohol advice and guidance and treatment for young people under 19 and are available to respond to young people’s needs 24 hours per day and 7 days per week.

Each young person gets a dedicated worker who is there to counsel and support the young person break their habit and refer them to other members of the team to then look at education and training opportunities.

Neighbourhood Watch groups working with young people

Example 1: Police and Community Support Group, Leicester

This group developed School Watch for primary schools. Children are engaged through activities such as the Attendance Reward Scheme, addressing truancy and anti-social behaviour. Houses near the school also participate by keeping an eye on the premises.

Example 2: Junior Neighbourhood Watch, Stockton-on-Tees

This scheme encourages young people to report crime. Begun at one primary school in 2007, it now covers five. Activities are classroom and community-based.

Example 3: Valleys and Vale Neighbourhood Watch Association, Stroud

This scheme visits schools to introduce Neighbourhood Watch to Year 6 children, providing information on stranger danger, mobile phone theft and postcoding bicycles.

Find out more

To read in more detail about working in your community, download the full version of this toolkit.

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