President’s Report
In the last newsletter I tried to stress how total community
involvement is essential if a Neighbourhood Watch group is to have
any impact on local crimes rates.
This is one community group where you cannot sit back and let
others do the work. Although our committee members have reported
quite a lot of verbal interest, only twenty-four residents
responded by returning the form and indicating a willingness to be
an active part of the group.
The police service requires a minimum 80% participation rate so
we are well short of the mark.
We need 240 and so far we have 24 but I know that there are a
lot more interested people out there, so we are giving it another
try. The recent criminal activity in Mandalay has caused this
attempt to get this up and running again.
Perhaps some residents don’t know the full extent of what has
been happening. I don’t know it all either because the local
crime figures we once received from the police through our
neighbourhood watch group are no longer available to us.
From what we have pieced together, over a two-week period there
were four raids on the area by groups of criminals and some other
isolated incidents. At least two females residents were assaulted
and as near as we can estimate, thirty to forty homes have been
burgled, most when the residents were at home.
We know of two vehicles that were stolen. At one stage when the
police arrived in the area in numbers and with dogs the criminals
just moved to other side of Mandalay and kept working.
We have to assume that criminal activity of this type will
continue to happen as long as we remain a soft target area.
Neighbourhood Watch is a way to combat the problem, and its
history shows a large decline in crime rates in areas where the
scheme is implemented and actively supported by local residents.
Put simply, Neighbourhood Watch is an organized community group
that takes note of what is happening in the local area. Anything
unusual is reported by the resident to his or her block
coordinator. Special cards are usually used for this purpose.
Items of value in homes are engraved with a code and these codes
are recorded by the police. A block coordinator looks after a
small number of homes, usually six to eight. Their job is to
collect information from and pass information to their block of
residents. They also distribute newsletters, home protection signs
etc.
The area is divided into say four zones and each controlled by
a zone co ordinator. Zone co ordinator duties are similar to those
of a block co ordinator although the area of control is larger. At
the top of the chain is an area coordinator who works with the
zone coordinators and the police service.
The area coordinator usually chairs meetings writes newsletters
and performs various other duties. Correctly set up there is a
minimum amount of work required by everybody concerned.
One requirement is that there must be widespread participation.
A weak link puts additional work and pressure on others and a
number of weak links will cause the scheme to fail. Police report
that a working Neighbourhood Watch scheme always reduces the
crimes in the local area.
In one Kenmore area, crime was reduced by 80% except for one
street where the residents declined to participate. Crime figures
in that street increased by 200%, as the criminals were
discouraged from working the "Watch" area. There is
quite a bit more to the scheme than I have discussed here but it
boils down to the very simple job of keeping your eyes open and
taking a note of anything that may be out of the ordinary. A slow
moving car that spends too much time in an area. A vehicle driving
without lights. It’s just a matter of becoming aware of such
things and making a note of a registration number or description.
The scheme doesn’t involve residents becoming involved in
confrontations with people. We would have police contacts to
handle that sort of thing.
Other matters, our annual fee collection is set for the
weekend of 27th & 28th July Membership
of the Mandalay Progress Association is $10 per family. Door
knocking is time consuming for our committee members and you can
speed things up for us by filling out the attached form and
putting it in an envelope with ten dollars and depositing it in
the locked letterbox at 28 Michelangelo Street prior to the
collection weekend.
Good news. We have a local sponsor who has promised to pay
for the fireworks display at our next picnic in the park. No
definite plans yet but we will be trying to organize this event as
soon as the weather warms up.
We do have a few things to sort out with our insurance coverage
first, but we are confident it will all go ahead.
Warren
Fletcher
President
Mandalay
Progress Association
Email:
mandalay@uq.net.au
