Neighbourhood watch scheme

This scheme operates across Northern Ireland to reduce crime and the fear of crime and antisocial behaviour.

It's run by local volunteers to help make local areas safer and involves:

Appointing a local scheme coordinator
Encouraging other neighbours to participate
Meeting with the local police team, and
Keeping other local residents up-to-date with crime prevention advice.

Benefits of the scheme

Residents actively look after each other
It acts as a warning to potential criminals that they are more likely to be caught
It helps communities to help solve crimes
Policing can be tailored to local concerns
It can help reduce the fear of crime and antisocial behaviour, and
You might even qualify for a reduction in your home insurance.

How to set up a scheme

Get your local community to support a new scheme.
Talk to your local police.
Choose one or two local people, who are well-known and trusted by the community, to be coordinators.
Coordinators fill in an application form form (found in the Neighbourhood Watch Manual below) and send it to the police for approval.
The police send the completed application form to the Policing and Community Safety Partnership .
If your scheme is approved, you'll be issued with a certificate and an identity card for the coordinators.

Neighbourhood Watch manual

A new Neighbourhood Watch manual has been developed to give guidance and support for Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators setting up new schemes and maintaining existing schemes.

The new manual is easy to use and provides information about developing new schemes together with roles and responsibilities. It also includes an induction pack which gives step-by-step directions about developing and maintaining schemes.

Neighbourhood Watch is widely considered to be an excellent mechanism to enable communities to work in partnership to help reduce crime, fear of crime and antisocial behaviour and generally improve quality of life for local residents.

Neighbourhood Watch is promoted, supported and endorsed by the Community Safety Unit of the Department of Justice, the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Police Service of Northern Ireland and at a council level through Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnerships and local policing areas.

Download the Neighbourhood Watch manual (PDF - 360KB)
Download the Neighbourhood Watch induction pack (PDF - 3.7MB)
Download the Neighbourhood Watch information card (PDF - 485KB)

More information

For more information on Neighbourhood Watch contact Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership on 028 9032 0202 or email communitysafety@belfastcity.gov.uk.

For further details visit Belfast Community Safety Partnership