What is the "Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network"?

How it all started

Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network (NHWN) is the name for the recently established group of Regional Neighbourhood & Home Watch representatives meeting at national level from across England & Wales. The groups’ Terms of Reference may be found elsewhere on the site, but readers may be interested to hear how the group came to be.

During the later months of 2006, Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley, (Neighbourhood Watch lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers – ACPO) was becoming increasingly concerned that Neighbourhood Watch, as a result of the demise of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association earlier in the year, lacked any representation or presence at national level. To try to resolve this situation, he set up a team to look at how the grassroots Neighbourhood Watch members themselves wanted to see such representation and ex-Chief Supt Mark Custerson was appointed to lead the team.

Symposiums

Mark initiated a series of exploratory meetings in each region, involving wherever possible representatives of Neighbourhood Watch at both force and regional levels. These meetings led in early 2007, to three symposia in the South East, in the West Midlands, and in the North West, to which every Constabulary was invited to send up to seven watch representatives from their respective areas. Granted that this may not be entirely “democratic”, but one may ask how better it could have been done?

At the symposia, delegates were invited to discuss and to vote on their preferred way to achieve a new form of representation at the national level for England & Wales.

Significantly NHW Members representing all 10 Regions at the symposia agreed in principle and overwhelmingly that:
a) they wanted to see a Regional and National structure,
b) they wanted a Force NHW representative to go to Regional meetings,
c) they wanted a regional NHW representative and a deputy to go to national meetings (the full details of the outcome of the symposiums is available at (xx another link? xx).

A Mandate for Action

Armed with this strong mandate, a proposal was put to the April meeting of the National Strategy Group for Watch Issues, when it was unanimously accepted, and arrangements were initiated for an inaugural meeting of the Regional representatives. In the meantime Regional NHW organisations were invited to elect their representatives and a date of mid July was agreed for the first meeting.

The rest is history, and may be read in the minutes of meetings held since July 2007.