'We are not victims': Over 600 Northampton households sign up to new Neighbourhood Watch scheme following spate of crime

Gemma Partidge of Westone is leading the campaign to fight off offenders in her community after seeing a sharp rise in burglary, theft and anti-social behaviour in the past two years.

One of her neighbours encountered two men trying to enter his property with a crowbar, another had bleach thrown over their sofa during a burglary and a pensioner was scammed out of £100 on their doorstep.

She said: "Recently there was one particular crime that really got my goat. It broke my heart and I decided that I wanted to build my community back up, I wanted my community to stand together and say: 'no more'.

"There was an incident that happened in daylight hours, on a weekend, when people were going about their business taking time out for family. Some scumbags decided that was the day they would knock at a vulnerable neighbours home and rip them off.

"They scammed them out of £100 on their doorstep."

On Saturday (February 23) dozens of people in Westone carried out a leaflet drop and now more than 650 households in one community have joined the new Neighbourhood Watch scheme.

She added: "The hope is we can work as a community and make our homes less attractive to criminals. We will do everything in our power to stop these criminals, these lowlives, destroying our homes, our lives and our community."

The residents are now working closely with Northamptonshire Police, the majority of the community has installed CCTV cameras and lighting around their homes and neighbours are keeping a watchful eye on their most vulnerable.

"We are taking our community back because we are not standing for it anymore," she added.

"Our Neighbourhood Watch scheme incorporates over 650 dwellings. That’s a lot of people that have had enough, why should we put up with this?

"We are not victims, we are a community who are sick and tired of being taken advantage of. No more."

Neighbourhood Sergeant Beth Curlett said: “We are working extremely closely with Neighbourhood Watch and our neighbourhood officers keep in regular contact with local coordinators.

“Reducing residential burglary is a priority for the force as well as being identified by the local community as a key area they want us to focus on.

“We are aware there has been an increase in burglary and we have increased patrols in hot spot areas, provided additional crime prevention advice to residents to help increase security and reduce the risk of being burgled, and we are gathering and acting on intelligence to target those suspected of committing offences.

“We have also launched Operation Radiator to tackle vehicle crime, again providing crime prevention advice and proactively targeting known offenders.

“We have started to see a fall in the number of burglaries over the last couple of months across some of our neighbourhoods and we will continue to target our efforts in this area. Information from local people is really important and I would encourage them to report any information or concerns to us.

“We will continue to work closely with our Neighbourhood Watch partners and we welcome the ongoing support they give us in our work to tackle crime in the local community.”