NEIGHBOURHOOD Watch week encourages community members to get involved with their local group.

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Neighbourhood Watch is a community led safety and awareness program that aims to prevent crime, stop anti-social behaviour and improve security and quality of life for everyone in your community.

Medowie Neighbourhood Watch was lucky to have Bill Hackney, the Hunter Region Area Coordinator for Neighbourhood Watch, attend the Medowie meeting last week as a guest speaker.

Bill spoke about the history of Neighbourhood Watch, how it is funded, what groups can do for the community, and how to best get their message across to residents.

“It is not all about crime, it is about building a sense of community. It’s about cyber crime, and bullying, and identity theft.”

“It’s about being a conduit between the residents and police, of calming the storm and finding solutions,’’ Bill said.

Port Stephens Local Area Command Prevention Officer Alison Stewart also spoke to the group, giving the monthly crime statistics report for Medowie.

Our community experienced a much lower crime rate this month than the previous month, with relatively low statistics in comparison.

Reported to the police were: one non-domestic violence assault, one assault amongst adolescents, one stolen vehicle, one malicious damage, one bin stolen, one number plate stolen, one jerry can removed from vehicle, vandalism recorded at Community Hall park and graffiti at Coolabah park.

Residents are reminded to report all crime, to ensure our statistics are correct.

Every little piece of information, however small, can make a difference when all added together.

Medowie member Jo Evans told News Of The Area, “Medowie is already a great community, I can only imagine how much we can all achieve once people learn to feel empowered and take the appropriate actions to report every crime to the police.”

Join in Medowie’s Neighbourhood Watch celebrations and come and visit their stall at the Medowie Markets on 14 October.

There will be free Neighbourhood Watch merchandise, balloons for Halloween participating homes to form a safe map for families, lolly guessing comps for the kids and a raffle of local business items to be won.

For crime reporting information and Neighbourhood Watch updates, be sure to find the group at: https://www.facebook.com/MedowieNHW/. 

By Rachael VAUGHAN