Northamptonshire Neighbourhood Watch handed £9,000 grant for crime crackdown

The Northamptonshire Neighbourhood Watch Association has been awarded a £9,460 grant from the Making Northamptonshire Safer Community Fund - managed by the Northamptonshire Community Foundation - to build group visibility and reduce crime countywide.

The brand new initiative, called Operation Target, is a partnership between Neighbourhood Watch and Northamptonshire Police, to develop crime prevention, reporting and awareness across the county.

Chief Inspector Lara Alexander-Lloyd from Northamptonshire Police said: “We work closely with Neighbourhood Watch and this initiative will allow us to strengthen that relationship while at the same time as increasing the awareness of crime prevention advice with our many different communities.

“The core functions of neighbourhood policing is community engagement, visibility, accessibility, problem-solving and partnership working, so this scheme fully supports the work we do while increasing our reach."

The group's focus is to strengthen the community to build a more effective and visible commitment to reduce crime and create safer communities.

She added: “It is my hope this work, alongside our new Neighbourhood Alert system will mean we are able to effectively communicate with more people across Northamptonshire.”

The project will work across a number of districts in the county and encourage Neighbourhood Watch groups to build their visibility and increase vigilance.

To hear directly from your local police officers on the Neighbourhood Alert system or to join the scheme, www.northantsnhw.co.uk