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'Working together' : Neighbourhood Watch, reassurance policing and the potential of partnerships

Abstract

Few well designed evaluations have found strong support for neighbourhood watch (NW) schemes; in fact there have been no formal, published, peer reviewed evaluations of NW in Australia. This paper argues for a change in focus in what is examined to determine success. Overseas evaluations suggest such schemes are ineffective because they looked at whether NW prevented and reduced the fear of crime, and improved information flows between the community and the police. The author proposes that a better way to assess the efficacy of NW is to view it as a vehicle to enhance partnerships between police, other agencies and the community and that these partnerships can effectively improve police/community relations, improve perceptions of safety and security and enhance community involvement in wider crime prevention initiatives. Such a change in focus is consistent with the emergence of 'reassurance policing' that targets street crime and disorder and has been a key component of recent reforms in the UK police force. This paper challenges practitioners, policy makers and communities involved with NW schemes to rethink the outcomes they are seeking to achieve and provides a rationale for community police partnerships that have the potential to improve feelings of safety and security in local communities.

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