Saint Joseph's Neighbourhood Watch (Upper Norwood, London, U.K.)

Successes of the year (beyond the Garden Party) included the enormously encouraging drop in crime in our Neighbourhood Watch area (our crime rate was already low and is now the lowest in the Ward), the start of the addition of Neighbourhood Watch street signs in our area, the appointment of one of our local co-ordinators to the Borough's Crime Prevention Panel and the reduction (in the small amount) of drug dealing locally (credit here is due to the police and St. Joseph's College Headteacher and staff). We are also proud of our increased reporting rate in our N.W. area - many crimes were stopped before they started, much theft and damage minimised and a lot of valuable information passed on to the Police as a result of our increased awareness and readiness to phone the police. Minor successes to note include: the very early end to the illegal "rave" at Norwood Grove which was dealt with prompty by the police and Councillor Ryan and will not recurr; an end to the selling of second-hand cars from Crown lane (thanks also to Streatham Police for their assistance) and a warning sign was added for the hairpin bend in Ryecroft Road, where many vehicles have come off the road [what a pity it was put in the wrong place - well at least the vehicles that have since come off the road, smashed the fencing and travelled down the embankment didn't damage the new sign - because they hadn't got that far! Surely a warning sign should be in front of the item about which it is intended to warn?]. We were delighted to see a number of new faces this year as well - and we are grateful to those who have volunteered as local co-ordinators.

Failures of the year must include the small toll of crimes within our Neighbourhood Watch. These included a small but disturbing number of burglaries, both domestic, business and also from garages, sheds etc. and also a few thefts of motor vehicles, thefts from motor vehicles, criminal damage and attempted burglaries. If we are the best area in a good ward life must be grim indeed elsewhere... The clear-up rate has a way to go as well, but we can also do our bit by reporting anything suspicious. We are also still striving on minor issues such as: completing the addition of neighbourhood watch signs, increasing the street-lighting, and improving on the small number of times we have seen our local police officers around our streets. We lost a number of people this year, including those who have moved out of our area and Mrs. Josephine Vincent, Mr. & Mrs. Russell Carpenter and Mrs. Pam Surridge will all be sorely missed. We survived the year without the help and enthusiasm of W.P.C. Laraine Burnett our former Home Beat Officer who moved on to other duties, and we wish her well.

Our wonderful Garden party in July was the highlight of the local social calendar, attended by Councillor Ryan our Deputy Mayor and blessed by good weather.

Noted: the problems of Bonfires, continuous false alarms on car and burglar alarms, cars parked on grass verges, commercial vehicles in side roads, continued selling of cars on Crown Lane and the dumping of rubbish were all noted by us and the police and the extent to which they might be either an offence and/or a nuiscance were investigated.
 

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