Colchester District Neighbourhood Watch

I am the Chairperson, and my name is Grahame Stehle. I work with three others to administer Colchester District Neighbourhood Watch.

Our goal is to introduce to members, and others in the community, behaviours that will frustrate and deter those who commit opportunity crime. We also signpost other organisations that support victims of crime and provide additional and focussed advice.

The purpose of a Neighbourhood Watch scheme is to encourage and help members take every precaution to ensure personal safety and to keep their home and possessions secure. Also, to watch out for neighbours and other members of the community and to help the police know about suspicious activity and actual crimes that are taking place. 

We help people set up Neighbourhood Watch Schemes (groups of members) in their locality and we assist in encouraging people to join. Looking after a scheme is as simple and as non-taxing as we can make it. Fifteen to twenty minutes a week and only more if the coordinator chooses to do so. Those fifteen minutes can prevent someone losing their precious bicycle, a car, or other valuable and important artifacts.

Coordinators and members receive an email every week with details of where and what crime is taking place in the whole of Colchester. We supply Street Signs and Window Stickers and other crime prevention material. We operate a ‘buddy’ system for members without email.

 We can attend community events and gatherings and are always pleased to speak about Neighbourhood Watch at these events. Popular topics are Passwords and PINs and Frauds and Scams.

We invite enquiries about membership of Neighbourhood Watch in Colchester and how to get new schemes off the ground. 

 Our new Web Site is https://www.colchesternhw.org.uk .

and we use Twitter: https:/twitter.com/colchesternhw .

REPORT TO ESSEX COUNTY NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ASSOCIATION

MEETING TUESDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2024...

The main task during this period has been to push along a small change to the Crime Report. This will enable Colchester to prepare, from an analysis, messages about where visitors need to exercise caution and be altogether more street wise than they might otherwise have been. A partial solution has been trialled and certain crimes of opportunity in 2023 are 30% down on what they were in 2022.  The District Coordinator, Grahame Stehle, has continued presenting crime prevention sessions to Friendship Groups and other Associations and enjoyed very positive feedback. Grahame’s career in IT started in the late sixties and so he has plenty of experience to call upon.  Membership has grown during the period and now stands at 4,573. This is up from pre-COVID days by 577 persons.  We believe our reach in the community exceeds 10,000 persons.  Grahame, one of Colchester’s Police Officers, and a serving officer at the Garrison, were recently interviewed by a programme presenter on British Forces Broadcasting Radio. The subject was Neighbourhood Watch of course and encouraged listeners to join the Garrison NhW Scheme.  Grahame Stehle. Chair Person