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Neighbourhood Watch Network
8th Floor
Elizabeth House
39 York Road
London
SE1 7NQ
3rd January 2020
Dear Neighbourhood Watch Association Leads,
A very Happy New Year and decade to all Association leads, Area Coordinators, Coordinators, members and supporters. I am very excited about the next year and hope 2020 will be the year where we begin to have an increasingly external focus to bring in more new members, and new watches, work in some different ways and reach even more people in existing, new and different communities.
As you know David Huse, the Chair of the Neighbourhood Watch Network Board is standing down as Chair at the next Board Meeting and the voting members will be asked to vote on a new chair to replace David. As the process for this needs to take place after they have been co-opted onto the Board, Derek Pratt the Board Secretary will be in contact with voting members very shortly and an announcement made in the next few weeks. David will be supporting the new chair to understand the role and the organisation and ‘get up to speed’ quickly. The new chair will be visiting Watches and members as part of their induction along with stakeholders, the Home Office etc.
The development of a new NW website is progressing well with the site map agreed and content and visual images being developed and signed off. The new site will look far more contemporary and attractive and will be focusing on existing members to find information, support and best practice but also be very much focused on attracting new members and supporters and needs to be attractive and relevant to both non-membersand potential members. The plan is to launch the new website in early February and this will coincide with the launch of a new, easier and simpler registration process from the website. The full functionality of the Alert member tools will not be realised until VISAV release Version 4 of alert which members of the NW IT Group have been liaising and working closely with VISAV to develop. New members not in NW areas that do not use Alert will still be able to register centrally but will then be signposted or directly linked to the system used locally. This should simplify both registration and finding information on the great work of NW.
NW has continued to get great coverage on local radio and are becoming something of a ‘go to’ organisation for some radio stations for comment on issues ranging from personal and home safety/security and crime. We also spoke on the potential threats from modern criminals and hackers from not adequately securing internet connected devises such as Alexa/Hive etc smart speakers and other internet connected items we increasingly have and use at home. We will continue to provide information and advice on these issues over the next year and ensure our information is up to date, simple, useable and relevant.
As with last year I and the Central Support Team are here to support you and are looking forward to working with you in 2020. We will be working to bring in new members, raise awareness and develop NW into an even more relevant and attractive organisation and movement with improved campaigns, partnerships, projects and programmes. Please let us know what is happening locally with projects and events and share this letter with your co-ordinators and members.
Yours faithfully
📷
John Hayward-Cripps – CEO, Neighbourhood Watch Network