Many small Neighbourhood Watch schemes have appeared in Lincoln – six years after the closure of the Lincoln and North Kesteven branch.
Photo: Kenneth Allen – Neighbourhood Watch sign
Wendy Graham, 6 , and her husband John, 73, who were visiting Lincoln from their home in Durham, said: “It works so well up where we are. We feel so safe it would be a really good idea to get it running here as well.”
Two local residents also agree that having back their city-wide Neighbourhood Watch would be a good idea.
Mike Everett, 68, from Bassingham, near Lincoln, said: “There’s no negative to Neighbourhood Watches. They’re a good thing as they keep the renegades and rogues off the streets.
“We actually have a small neighbourhood watch in our neighbourhood in Bassingham. I wouldn’t join it personally but it definitely makes us all feel that little bit safer.”
Lincoln resident Danielle Mackenzie, 27, agreed: “You feel safer knowing that there is always somebody in your neighbourhood you can go to regarding worries you have about stuff going on in the streets.”
However, Neighbourhood Watches don’t just make their residents feel safe, statistics show residents actually are safer.
Lincoln City Centre’s crime statistics from the Police.uk revealed violence and sexual offences had taken up the highest amount of recorded crimes, being responsible for 24.40% of offences between September 2018 and August 2019.
Lincoln had 41/42 crimes recorded per 1000 population during this period. This compares to Derby, which had less than 30 per 1000 population, with Norwich at over 50.
Derby was the only one with an official city-wide Neighbourhood Watch.
The Neighbourhood Watch scheme originates back in the US and was later duplicated in to the UK in 1982. It then grew into a national organisation, endorsed by the Home Office in 2007.
Now with more than 173,000 coordinators, the organisation covers more than 3.8 million households across England and Wales.
