When IT Meets Politics

Relaunching Neighbourhood Watch for the Internet Age

Philip Virgo
Philip Virgo
Winsafe Ltd

How do you improve the security of large numbers of vulnerable users, including those working from home … for you? 

Neighbourhood Watch was launched forty years ago. During Covid it became by far the UK’s largest community support movement albeit cover is patchy. Across England and Wales it embraces 9% of household but that ranges from 30% of more, where it has a transformative effect on social inclusion (including digital) to .3% in Lambeth, where I am trying to organise a relaunch across a borough where “White British” is barely 1/3 of the population.

Currently that relaunch is being built around programmes like “Doorbell Detectives” and last night I was hearing how members of one of our local streets are using Adobe to cut and splice footage to e-mail to the local police team. One of my follow up actions is to ask them to write up the process they use and notify our other local groups, with additional guidance from the police team on how they wish to receive the footage for easy entry into their systems.  Once we have tested it we will promote it across Lambeth as a reason to join … and reduce parcel thefts and car break-ins on YOUR street.

Meanwhile the link up between Neighbourhood Watch and Get Safe On-line has transformed the reach of the latter and my role includes helping build linkages with those who have large numbers of vulnerable on-line users and  (all too often), similarly vulnerable home-based workers, to secure .

I have a three prong strategy:

  • street by street, estate by estate, face to face, recruitment, to bypass the increasing mistrust among the most vulnerable of anything on-line: “if it is easy to use and has a friendly help desk it is probably a scam “
  • the identification of programmes that cut across ward boundaries and will draw in support from outside the borough from those seeking to identify and test solutions to common problems. Examples include Safe Havens and Youth Watch, below, Phone Watch and Cycle Watch are under discussion.
  • working with large organisations and professional bodies to identify home-based workers and those commuting from West Norwood in the City and//or West End whose employers are happy to support them to help achieve corporate social responsibility objectives, including digital inclusion and the provision of mentoring and supervised work experience.

If you would like to help please join Neighbourhood Watch, wherever you live and contact me via Linked In or e-mail norwoodcsp@gmailcom if you live or work in Lambeth or would like to pilot activities in West Norwood.

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NORWOOD COMMUNITY SAFETY PARTNERSHIP NEWSLETTER March 2025

March CSP NEWSLETTER CONTENTS

  1. Relaunch of Neighbourhood Watch in West Norwood
  2. Setting Priorities for the Norwood Community Safety Partnership
  3. Safe Havens and Street Patrols
  4. Spotting the signs of Domestic Violence & local support/reporting
  5. Youth Watch in West Norwood – driven by teenagers for teenagers
  6. Information Sources: Local and Lambeth

1 Relaunch of Neighbourhood Watch in West Norwood

Neighbourhood Watch , (now 40 years maturing since the  Being an active bystander campaign) is by far the UKs largest community self-help network. It grew rapidly last year as it repositioned for the Internet age and twinned with Get Safe Online. Programmes like the BBC Doorbell Detectives (closing date for applications 17th March) are expected to help drive a further round of growth this spring, with groups being asked to start planning activities now for announcement during  Volunteers’ Week in June. Lambeth is one of the few parts of the UK without an active Neighbourhood Watch Association although it does has over 80 street/estate groups.

The 90,000 Neighbourhood Watch volunteer organisers currently engage with 2.3 million households (9%) across England and Wales. But not in Lambeth (under .04%). NHW is slightly stronger in West Horwood with 1% of households in West Dulwich and .5% across Gipsy Hill, Knights Hill and St Martins. Hence the reason for using the Norwood Community Safety Partnership as a pilot cluster to test processes for use across the Borough in parallel with the creation of a Lambeth Neighbourhood Watch Association.

Recent NHW guidance in the national monthly newsletters to all participants has included:

  • Making streets safer for women at night (see section 3 below)
  • Harassment, stalking and how to report it  See Stalking
  • Spotting the signs of child exploitation and how to report (see  LookCloser and section 6 below)
  • Spotting the signs of domestic abuse and how to report (see section 3 below)
  • Romance Fraud and related on-line scams (see section 4 below)

The Norwood CSP steering/advisory group has been asked to help draft guidance specific to Lambeth to be placed on the interim website for review, pending the formation of the Neighbourhood Watch Association for Lambeth.  After formation there is a four stage development process and it is likely to take at least three years for the new Association  to reach maturity. In the mean-time the recruitment messaging for new street/estate groups, based on that used by Associations in neighbouring London Boroughs for extending NHW into currently inactive areas, is:

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Neighbours by chance. Working together by choice

We make this a better place to live. Together.

 How does a Neighbourhood Watch group work?

  • Neighbourhood Watch provides a wealth of advice and guidance to help protect yourself, your family, your friends and your neighbours,(including against on-line abuse and fraud via Get Safe Online) and organize activities to address local priorities including health, wellbeing and social inclusion.
  • There is also evidence that demonstrating the street/estate community is working together can reduce crime by 30%. To this end window stickers and street signs are available.
  • Police send information to NHW co-ordinators or street representatives by email to keep the wider community informed with any relevant information regarding crime in the area.
  • Combined NHW and Police Ward Panel meetings (held every 3 months) are open to all. Street representatives are expected to attend to feed relevant information back to their street WhatsApp groups and to raise concerns expressed by residents. These meetings are also attended by the local Police Team, Ward Councillors and community and council service teams.

What to do if a crime is happening or has happened?

In the event of a crime, incident or if you suspect something is about to happen, it is recommended you follow these steps:

  1. Report a live crime of suspicious activity – Call 999
  2. Reporting something that has already happened (non-emergency)
    1. Call 101, or
    2. Report it online – met.police.uk/area/your-area/
  • Please email the [insert Ward Police Team] via [team e-mail address] with further detail of any incidents or suspicious activity that have been reported. This is usually checked daily for intelligence to help address local crime and secure funding for hotspots but should not be used for reporting or urgent communication
  1. Report incidents and information to your street WhatsApp group.
  2. Talk to neighbours who may not be on the WhatsApp group.
  3. To help deter crime, it’s recommended to install Ring doorbells (or similar) with live video and recording capability.

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 Groups are expected to work with the local police teams and promote scheduled meetings. The contact details and current schedule for the teams and panels covering West Norwood are:

Gipsy Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team : Inspector Tom Martis-Jones, PS Troy Simpson, PC Jamie Ingold, PCSO Beata Markovska-Mathea, PCSO Kamil Wojtkiewicz

[email protected]

8th March (Saturday) 15.30 – 16.30 Gipsy Hill Railway Station

29th March (Saturday) 09.30 – 10.30 Hungry Hippo Care, Norwood Park

Safer Neighbourhood Panel: ?? April, New Covenant Church, 2 Berridge Road, SE19 1EF

Knights Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team :  Inspector Tom Martis-Jones, PS Saul Bird, PC Jacob Eager, PC Samuel Singer-Ripley, PCSO Salim Marwari

ASMailbox-.Knight’[email protected]

2nd March (Sunday) 12.00  – 14.00 Sainsbury’s Local,364 Norwood Road

3rd March (Monday) 19.00 – 20.00 Leisure Centre, Devane Way

25th March (Tuesday) 15.00 – 16.00 B & Q, 304 Norwood Road

7th April (Monday) 15.00  – 16.00 Sainsbury’s Local,364 Norwood Road

23rd April (Wednesday) 13.00 – 14.00, Icelands, 348 Norwood Road

29th May (Thursday), 13.00 – 14.00,   B & Q, 304 Norwood Road

Safer Neighbourhood Panel:  March 3rd Norwood Leisure Centre, Devane Way 7.30.

St Martin’s Safer Neighbourhood Team : Inspector Tom Martis-Jones, PS Saul Bird, PC Will Luck, PCSO Jack Jones-Pace:

ASMailbox-.StMartin’[email protected]:

7th March 15.00 – 16.00 The Scouts Hut, High Trees

26th March 12.00 – 13.00 Tulse Hill Train Station

Safer Neighbourhood Panel Meeting: May 1st , High Trees Hub (also called  “The Scout Hut”.   

West Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team: Inspector Tom Martis-Jones, PS Troy Simpson, PC Anna Wachowicz, PCSO Carl McLean, PCSO Lewis Middleton ;

[email protected] , Tel 02086492337:

4th March 12:00-13:00 – Tesco Express, Norwood Road SE27

25th March 13:00-14:00 – Café Salva, Rosendale Road SE27

Safer Neighbourhood Panel Meeting: 30th April, Oakwood School

YOUR ACTIONS

  • Visit Neighbourhood Watch and then go to Join us | Neighbourhood Watch Network – whether or not you live in Lambeth. Make sure you answer the questions on your interests, particularly if you have relevant professional responsibilities or would like to help forming a group and/or running the association.

Neighbourhood Watch is for residents (regardless of race, creed or nationality). There is no bar on police officers, councillors, council officials, magistrates or Judges (!) becoming members (co-ordinators or officers) where they live (and/or guests where they work). Neighbourhood Watch is run by volunteers but the volunteers do not have to be amateurs. Many are professionals, supported by their employers to achieve shared objectives   

2 Setting Priorities for the Norwood Community Safety Partnership

 The role of the Norwood CSP as a pilot community cluster will be to draw in resources (both locally and from outside the Borough) to help develop and test activities and processes which can be expanded and/or replicated to serve the whole of the borough.

The priorities will be set by the willingness of participants to help deliver what they wish to see happen. The aim is to engage participants from all the communities of West Norwood and embrace the variety of interests and objectives which results. Wherever practical the intention is to build on the best of what is already happening locally and/or to copy that which is successful elsewhere, with the help of those who made it a success, to make it available to all and to deliver at scale.

The strategy of neighbouring London Boroughs which are using NHW Associations to help rebuild local community policing and social cohesion, is to work street by street and ward by ward, demonstrating and building on success. The selection of which streets and which wards depends on those coming forward to help and resources (including time and expertise) they volunteer. Our intention is to regularly report and publicise progress, to aid recruitment and to encourage those in other parts of Lambeth to copy what works.

The Norwood CSP  plans, however, to help pilot two other strategies:

  • the identification of programmes that cut across ward boundaries and will draw in support from outside the borough from those seeking to identify and test solutions to common problems. Examples include Safe Havens and Youth Watch, below, Phone Watch and Cycle Watch are under discussion.
  • working with large organisations and professional bodies to identify home-based workers and those commuting from West Norwood in the City and//or West End whose employers are happy to support them to help achieve corporate social responsibility objectives, including digital inclusion and the provision of mentoring and supervised work experience.

The long term measure of success is whether the deliverables help grow active participation in Neighbourhood Watch from the current 1%, through the national average of 9%, to the 20 – 30% (or more) where it has a transformative effect.

Short term  there is a clear desire for a public event on Community Safety in West Norwood akin to those held and/or planned in Brixton and Herne Hill and we will be comparing notes with their organisers … including the need to avoid consultation fatigue.

Subject to discussion the intention is therefore to use the event to:

  • present information on the current situation, including the results of previous consultations
  • recruit support for what is already under way or planned in response.
  • identify gaps which can be addressed by those present, working together.

YOUR ACTION

Please reply to this e-mail if you are interested in helping, particularly in helping organise/support local consultations via existing channels and a public event to discuss how to address the priorities identified.

3 Safe Havens and Street Patrols

There is a need for many more local Safe Havens accessible by pupils on their way to and from school, as well as during the evening or at weekends by adults too. Safe Havens are a practical way for businesses to let people know that a form of support is easily available if they need help so, that could be providing a friendly face and reassurance or enabling the individual to charge their phone, call a taxi, contact family/friends, wait for transport and, if required, make a phone call to the emergency services. They should also offer useful helpline numbers if required.

 There is no charge for registration via the Safer Business Network and upon launching you will show on the Safe Haven App and local maps by Lambeth Council. 

The basic requirements to be a Safe Haven are:  Access to water (could be bottled), electricity, wi-fi or a landline telephone, charging point for mobile phone with extension lead if required, a chair/seat, access to a toilet if required, Safe Haven Logo (supplied free of charge) displayed in window/door, trained staff with a list of support network contact details (training and support contact details provided free of charge), relevant public liability insurance, landlords’ permission and the Safe Haven to be covered by working CCTV OR two members of staff must be present when an individual is in the Safe Haven OR Body Cameras are to be worn.

To become a Safe Haven you have to meet the basic requirements and complete the Safe Haven Application form and Safety Review Form. Following this, management staff will be expected to attend a 45-minute online training session covering ”what vulnerability is, how to identify interventions that assist in preventing and reducing harm to vulnerable people and discovering how to assist individuals that may use the Safe Haven.”

Organisations becoming a Safe Haven will also be sent two informative videos prior to their launch about ‘Vulnerability’ and ‘Safe Havens’ which can be used to brief absent staff from the training or as routine re-fresher training for new starters etc.

Safe Haven window/door stickers will be sent to the trained organisation which will be required to put up at their entrance/door. Additionally, signposting documents are sent to the organisation via email which will need to be printed out and kept in an accessible place. Upon launching both the City of London Police and Met Police will be informed.

The situation with school patrols is more complex. It is apparent that these are essential if parents are to be discouraged from driving vulnerable children to school. Older children do not wish to be seen to be escorted and incidents rarely happen in the presence to adults in hi vis jackets.

NHW supports only patrols organised in co-operation with the relevant police force. In London these include those in West Dulwich organised via Love Your Doorstep which is actively looking for more volunteers and also more funding (including to cover DBS clearances for volunteers).

The intention is to work with and through local schools and their pupil safety teams and parent teacher groups to organise more. Please reply to this e-mail with a note if you are interested, also join Neighbourhood Watch and indicate an interest in “Street Watch”  and “Education”.

Your Actions

  • Please contact Safe Havens – Safer Business Network and use the forms above to become a Safe Haven. Also join the street NWH group and tick interest in Business Watch and/or Pub watch.
  • if you are interested helping with School (and/or other) Patrols, please join Neighbourhood Watch and indicate an interest in “Street Watch” and “Education”, also reply to this e-mail.

4  Spotting the signs of Domestic Violence & local support/reporting

 An article in Our News January 2025 issue begins: “Domestic abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of age, background, gender identity, sex, religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity. However, statistics show most domestic abuse is carried out by men and experienced by women. Across England and Wales, 1 in 4 women will experience abuse in their lifetime and on average, one woman is killed by an abusive partner or ex every five days.”

It ends with “It can be hard to know how to support a friend or loved one who is experiencing domestic abuse. Your first instinct may be to protect them, but intervening directly can be dangerous for you and them. There are ways you can help though. Read more on our website or Refuge’s.”

Refuge has material on What is tech abuse? – Use tech safely and Supporting survivors of tech abuse

The Lambeth guidance  on Domestic abuse recommends contacting the Gaia Centre (run by Refuge 0 which also handles the local reporting services. This supported by specialist services like Africa Advocacy and Respeito for specific groups and Bede House for children.

The local priority for Neighbourhood Watch is therefore to enable friends, neighbours and others to make discrete contact, particularly for those whose first language is not English.  Safe Havens in  pharmacies, nails bars, beauticians might also carry contact material.

Grow with us  which looks after survivors from a wide range of backgrounds has offered to look at how best to provide guidance designed initially to help NHW co-ordinators in Lambeth with access to multi-lingual guidance – perhaps enlisting the aid of teenagers, via “Young Neighbourhood Watch” so that we have a win-win, multi-generational exercise.

Your action: Join Neighbourhood Watch and also reply to this e-mail saying how you would like to help improve confidential local access and support.

5 Youth Watch in West Norwood – driven by teenagers for teenagers

The NHW Young people’s hub and Youth Council are largely concerned with Student Safety and run a magazine  The Lookout . Both contain much material relevant to older teenagers and the blog entries contain articles on topics like  Hate crime in UK schools and The importance of community cohesion and finding safety in neighbours. There is also a nationally organised group working on a Youth Isolation Toolkit for younger audiences.

In West Norwood we have begun looking at creating “Youth Watch” operations to ensure that we give a voice to the concerns of local teenagers (e.g. what are their views on local policing priorities and/or the wider  Metropolitan Police Service Children’s Strategy when it comes to their street/estate, their journey to from schools or an evening together locally) and engage them in practical action to address their concerns, via both the mainstream operations and groups of their own, Schools and youth groups will be encouraged to get involved via both their local Neighbourhood Watch Groups and the relevant Ward Safer Neighbourhood Panel.

Your Action: join Neighbourhood Watch and indicate an interest in “Young people Neighbourhood watch Helpers” and/or “Education – Students” These are not the most helpful categories but we should find you. The adults wishing to help will be asked to focus on helping with mentoring and/or after school, week-end  and/or summer activities.

6 Information Sources: Local and Lambeth

Local websites

Local Facebook Pages include:   Norwood Forum, West Norwood Local , West Norwood SE27 ,    What’s On West Norwood   West Norwood Matters (Community Safety only),  West Norwood News (the Labour Party Action Team), Friends of Gipsy Hill and  Herne Hill Forum

Local Newsletters

For local news sign up to the Norwood Forum newsletter plus those for Station to Station, Norwood Action Group and Friends of Gipsy Hill and  Herne Hill Forum

To post or find out about local volunteering, work experience and employment opportunities

Lambeth Voluntary & Community Sector Newsletter

Lambeth Council promoting and developing volunteering in your area.

Local Job Vacancies – Station to Station.

Access to Work and Skills

Use BeLambeth to post/discover employment and volunteering opportunities. See also Local Job Vacancies – Station to Station . Visit Lambeth Made for information on the education, skills and employment programmes organised by the Council and sign up via Contact Lambeth Made to request the newsletter. For Youth Promise and the Youth Hub employment support, email  [email protected] or complete the registration form. Fight for Change runs the Lambeth Young Advisors . 

Youth Engagement

For the Lambeth Youth and Play Newsletter e-mail [email protected]

For other activities organised by those with Police agreed quality control, including Rathbone and High Trees, visit Local Village Network · Explore Youth Opportunities.

 Lambeth Council Consultation and Participation Platforms

Consultations | Lambeth Council

Citizen engagement platform | London Borough of Lambeth

Health and Wellbeing

Thriving Norwood | Norwood Forum

Get involved – Lambeth Together links to the activities organised via the integrated partnership of the Council and NHS, including:

Early Intervention

Support for Carers