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HOW ARE WE DOING?

The SNWA, although having been established since 1996, is still very much in its infancy within the NW movement and other than via the SNWA Newsletter has not been greatly publicised.

We need to promote new schemes with better start ups-where Neighbourhood Watch generally plays a bigger part, and takes on more of the responsibility from the outset. By offering support from a neighbouring scheme supported by the police, the new watch won't feel as if it's on its own after the initial meeting and it will know where it can get advice and support.

We need to give continuing support to existing schemes and Networks, and be able to offer ongoing training and advice on ways of making the Network stronger. Meetings can be made more interesting, with invited guests, such as local councillors; hopefully, this will make members more aware that they are not the only ones who are finding it difficult to keep everyone interested and that there are ways of overcoming apathy.

We need to forge closer links with our partners in the police, local government, other emergency services, and other agencies, to enable us to establish a more cohesive approach. The aim is to make our communities safer places in which to work, live and bring up our families, where community spirit is strong and people care about their environment.

Since I was elected as chair of the SNWA, I believe we have moved forward significantly and adopted a more professional approach to Neighbourhood watch. This has been achieved by having support on the Executive committee from most of the sectors in Suffolk. It has enabled us to use the stronger in-depth skills that are now available to us, enabling the setting up of sub-committees to tackle issues such as the Constitution, communication, budget and expenditure, marketing and fundraising, training and performance. Although some of the sub-committees are still in the development stages, we are already starting to see the benefits of these groups; rather than being just another talking shop, we are achieving results.

Instead of walking around like headless chickens, we are all now aiming in the same direction. Because we now have a strategy in place, we know where we are going, how we are going to get there and what we want to achieve. This will take time to implement, but it links very closely with the findings and proposals of the Way Forward Group Review and is in line with our partners, the Suffolk Constabulary and its "Suffolk First campaign", which is to make Suffolk the safest county in England and Wales by April 2006.

We have set in place the initiative to increase membership coverage in Suffolk to 54% in four years; this is twice the National average and will need the support of everyone in Neighbourhood Watch to achieve.

To enable the SNWA to be more approachable and to give us a corporate identity which has been seriously lacking in the past, we are working along with our partners to establish a web site. Members will be able to find out more about the SNWA and what we are doing; they'll be able to contact us and ask for advice; they'll be able to publish Newsletters, with the opportunity to pass on items of good practice, and results, plus the option of providing links to other agencies, Neighbourhood Watches, National NW, Suffolk Fire Service, Crime Stoppers, and so on-the list is endless.

We are developing a training manual for Co-ordinators.

We have updated the structure of Neighbourhood Watch and published it to all Co-ordinators, so that they know how they fit in to the organisation.

Email has been established as a way forward for communication, which is being more widely used by members.

Sponsorship has been sought and Data Link has finally been launched (see links page on this site) in Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Needham Market; we also hope to extend it to Woodbridge and Felixstowe in the near future. By using management and purchasing skills, the SNWA has been able to keep costs to a minimum and for the first time the SNWA has funds. The SNWA is being promoted through the life-saving Data Link initiative and a budget and income stream has been set up to encompass the income from sponsors and the outgoing expenses. A web site has been established to promote Data Link and the SNWA Initiative.

I am grateful to the Committee for their support through what has been for me a very informative and worthwhile year, and for all the hard work and dedication that has enabled us to achieve our results.

SO WHAT NOW?

Having been re-elected as Chairman, I would like to see the committee push forward with achieving our strategic objectives with the emphasis over the next year on:

• Achieving increased membership, which is the key to driving down crime, with the overall objective of reaching a 54% coverage by NW in Suffolk in four years.
• Establishing the SNWA web site and encouraging growth of local NW sites, making contact with other watches via web sites, and promoting the SNWA through them and getting them to make use of the SNWA Web site.
• Encouraging youngsters, like the Kids Who Care Group, The Ipswich Teenagers Fighting Crime, The Mildenhall Street Detectives, to become involved with NW and take an interest in their own communities, and help promote Data Link.
• Making use of our partnerships, getting them more involved, encouraging them to support our initiatives to help us to achieve our goals.
• Pushing ahead to get crime statistics on areas that are covered by watches and those that are not, to produce a comparison that will demonstrate the effectiveness of NW and prove that it does work in Suffolk.

I'm sorry if you think this has been a bit long-winded but I think it's important that we sit back and take stock now and again. We are making headway but we still have a long way to go and we need to work together as a team if we are to achieve our aims and objectives.

If you have a web site for Neighbourhood Watch please let me know, the more voices we have the stronger we become, the more we can achieve. My details are andrew@melbourne0.fsnet.co.uk