The purpose of Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) is to encourage neighbours to cooperate with each other, to look out for each others properties and to report crime or anti-social behaviour in their residential areas.

Everyone who joins NHW plays an important part in making their neighbourhood a safer place to live and to assist households from becoming victims of crime.

Neighbourhood Watch  is about bringing people closer together and involving them in their local community.   A stronger community spirit grows as people get to know each other and look out for one another.  Anyone can join Neighbourhood Watch and everyone can play a part in its achievements.   When a group of households join NHW, they form an individual Street Scheme which meets the needs of the members and their individual neighbourhoods.  Every member is valuable and every task they do contributes to making the scheme work more efficiently and effectively.

A Street Scheme Coordinator is established to act as a contact link with other Neighbourhood Watch groups, the Local Policing Team and also Local Councils.  Some members of the Scheme may be part of a support committee to ensure that everyone in the Scheme is kept up to date with the latest crime information, while others keep an eye on the more vulnerable people in the neighbourhood. Some Schemes hold regular meetings and others distribute newsletters.  Regardless of which, the objective of each Scheme is to be a deterrent against crime and improve community safety.

If you would like more information on Neighbourhood Watch, would like to join an existing Street Scheme or need to set up a completely new Street Scheme, then please contact the Neighbourhood Watch Area Coordinator for Dunstable at the following email address:  mgc.dnw@virginmedia.com

Central Bedfordshire Neighbourhood Watch Association website is now up and running at WWW.BEDFORDSHIRE-NEIGHBOURHOODWATCH.CO.UK