The scheme includes partnerships with the Police, Essex County Fire and Rescue Services Home Security Teams, Victim Support, the Community Safety department of Braintree District Council and parishioners who want to make this neighbourhood a better place to live.
Neighbourhood Watch aims to assist villagers to better protect themselves and their property against criminal activity. The scheme also helps to reduce the fear of crime by showing people how to improve their own, and their home’s, security.
By encouraging greater vigilance, and accurate and timely reporting to the police of suspicious incidents, the scheme also helps engender a good community spirit.
Objectives
- To improve village safety in general
- To prevent crime by improving security, increasing vigilance and creating and maintaining a caring community
- To reduce opportunities for crime by increasing crime prevention awareness.
- To assist the police in detecting crime by promoting effective communication and the prompt reporting of suspicious and criminal activity.
- To reduce undue fear of crime by providing accurate information about risks and by promoting a sense of security and community spirit, particularly amongst the more vulnerable members of the community.
- To improve police/community liaison by effective communication through the Neighbourhood Watch messaging system – that warns the NW Co-ordinator of local crime trends, which they can then pass on – and by encouraging people to inform the police of suspicious incidents as and when they occur.
Crime in the Local Area
You can find out more about crime-related activity in the local area by either subscribing to the Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter – e-mail nwnewsletter@btinternet.com for details – or checking the Essex Police website for the latest information.
The latest Neighbourhood Watch Newsletter, with details about recent local crime, can be read here.
Other NW information about local crime can be found here.
Specific precautions you can take to counter dog theft can be found here
THERE’S SAFETY IN NEIGHBOURS, a new Neighbourhood Watch campaign to help prevent burglaries, launched on 27th July 2020. More information can be found here.
Coordinator
Ian Johnson is the local Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator for Great Maplestead. He can be contacted on 01787 461 109
Safety/Security Items
A range of useful items are available from the Co-ordinator to help improve both personal safety and property security:
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- Door Bars/Chains £1.50 each
- Door Spy Viewers £1.50 each
- Personal Attack Alarms – large £4 each; small £3 each
- Plug in Timers £3.00 each
- Keypad Motion Detector Alarms £10.00 each
- Shed Alarms (Key Pad) for a new reduced price £12.50 each.
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There is also special offer on Selecta DNA Home Property Marking Kits – these were £16.50 but are now £14.00 as the "expiry date" has passed. However, the supplier assures that, provided the seal is intact, the kits are still usable.
E-mail Ian Johnson or telephone him on 01787 272 500 to purchase any of the above items.
Essex Community Messaging (ECM) enables everyone in Essex to receive and share the very latest information about crime and community safety in their local area.
Jointly funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner and money seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act, ECM is available free of charge to anyone wishing to register.
Registered users receive accurate and up-to-date information, crime prevention advice and notifications from Essex Police officers, Essex Watch liaison officers and other key partners, such as Neighbourhood Watch, about crime and community safety issues.
You can select the information you want to receive, including issues you may have a particular interest in such as scams, internet crime or rural crime. You can also choose whether to receive this information via email, text or voice message.
Clive Stewart, Chair of the Essex County Neighbourhood Watch Association, said: “All Neighbourhood Watch members should do their very best to get to know the Neighbourhood Policing Teams and to work more effectively with Essex Police to keep crime down.”
Whether alerting a community to a specific developing crime trend, involving local people in the search for a vulnerable missing person, or encouraging the reporting of suspicious behaviour, ECM helps transform the speed and effectiveness of crime communication across Essex.
You can register for Essex Community Messaging here:http://www.essex.police.uk/contact_us/essex_community_messaging.aspx