Coordinators information from Mid Sussex Neighbourhood Watch

Messages from Emma Collett,
Hassocks PCSO... [ ]

The initial couple of surgeries at South Downs Nurseries have been productive with an increased attendance.  The date for my next surgery is posted on the news page.  Please feel free to pop along with any concerns or questions you may have.

I should be arranging some 'roadshow' dates for us down at South Downs for property marking - dates advised nearer the time.

Semley Road and The Shands NHW schemes are now officially closed down as no coordinator has come forward.  We are still keen for volunteers to come forward to take over schemes in Highlands Close and Willowbrook Way; these will also close if a coordinator is not found.  If you are interested in becoming a coordinator, please contact Bruce Burgess or myself for further information.  We have had several new NHW reinstatements and new schemes start recently.  We welcome Tony Chaitow of Ann Close, Cecelia Norburn of Queens Drive, Bert Budgen of Meadows, Murray Thomson of Challow Close and Lyn Godfrey of Mackie Avenue to Hassocks Neighbourhood Watch.  We are also in the process of reinstating the schemes in Kings Drive and Chancellors Park.

I look forward to seeing you out and about on patrol over the coming weeks.

The latest developments from the Hassocks Neighbourhood Panel is carried in a feature on the news page.

Messages from Bruce Burgess,
Hassocks Main Coordinator... [ ]

Website news.  The popularity of our website continues to grow with an all time high 1725 page views during May.  We've had praise and requests to copy from Yeovil and Ipswich NHW groups and action is currently being taken against a group in Northern Ireland who used site copy without authorisation.  The website hosting has has just been renewed for the next two years.

PCSO Emma and I have received enquiries to start schemes in London Road, Badger Close, Oaktree Drive and North Court - more news later.

The summer Watch Out is due out at the end of July, so ensure you know who your Watch coordinator is for collection.

Are you receiving the police messages via the email Community Messaging System (CMS)?  There was one dated 10/6 about a scam by somebody purporting to be HSBC and another dated 7/6 about a burglary in Grand Avenue.  Please let me or PCSO Emma know if you have not received them (also see note below).

Finally, I still have a reasonable supply of Data Link kits, just ask.

I have shared the area into five Watches with a coordinator for each to improve communication and distribution of information - please see breakdown and contacts of Watch Coordinator for your street.

[Webmaster note: if you're not getting cms messages try adding the email address (do-not-reply@communitymessaging.sussex.police.uk) to your email's address book.  And you can always check the latest incidents on the site's crime blog or RSS crimefeed - .]

General Messages...
Ringmaster may be no more, and the new police messaging very patchy and unreliable, but coordinators are reminded that the latest crime alerts can still be obtained from the blog and RSS feed (above).

2006's report reviewing Neighbourhood Watch working with Sussex Police can be downloaded below:
Note: This has been unavailable for some time from the Sussex Police Authority's website, apologies if you tried to download this previously and got nowhere. We've now changed the link and download location and it should now work. Thanks to T. Shields for pointing out the error.

Download Neighbourhood Watch Review (344KB)
Downloading and Printing info here.

Watch Out editions
Current and recent previous editions are carried on the Hassocks NHW website, the web address (URL) is: www.hassocksnhw.org.uk/watchout

Messages from the webmaster...
The site's RSS Newsfeed and blog was launched at the end of September 2006.  Please see the What is RSS? page for details (now updated to reflect current status).

RSS technology is now mainstream for the rapid distribution of information electronically, helped on by the release of Internet Explorer 7 which has an integrated RSS reader, as do many other leading web browsers.

A number of national NHW and related websites have chosen to syndicate the feed from this site, thus allowing them to provide current crime alert messages on their site without any manual updating overhead.
10/06/08

Messages from Geoff Coe... [ ]
Geoff has now retired as MSNHWA Chairman. The appointment of a replacement is awaited.

A meeting of the Association Executive Committee is being held on Tuesday 27th July at 7.30pm at Haywards Heath Police Station.  I hope that you will be able to attend, or one of your local members can in your place.  Please let me know if you are attending or give apology for absence as it is necessary to provide a list of attendees to police reception.  I hope to send copy of the agenda soon, but if there is any particular matter you would like to have considered please let me know ASAP.

The summer Watch Out has now been sent to the printers and should be available for distribution shortly.  The first stage is bulk supplies to the three police stations then for the agreed local distribution arrangements with your PCSO to be actioned - collect or delivered.  As funding comes from public funds we have a duty to ensure effective distribution; most schemes have this, but problems have arisen in the past with late or non-delivery.

The Local Service Level Agreement (LSLA) for Mid Sussex Police and Mid Sussex Neighbourhood Watch (prepared with considerable assistance by CI Edward De-La-Rue) has now been agreed and put into operation and can be viewed/downloaded here.  Please arrange for your fellow coordinators to view a copy so all are aware of the respective responsibilities of both NHW and the police.  There are still proposals for a Sussex-wide SLA, but our own local one is of direct relevance to our continuing work.

We still lack a Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary for our Association, which is a very unsatisfactory position.  Do give consideration as to how you or your colleagues can help rebuild our overall team, not forgetting that there is also a vacancy for a Watch Out editor.  I cannot do all this on my own for ever!

To assist with coordinator recruitment we have now published a handy leaflet to give out to interested people.  It gives basic information about Mid Sussex NHW and how to join and can be downloaded below, or printed copies are available from police stations or PCSOs.  We are grateful to Mid Sussex Police for contributing to publication costs.

What is Neighbourhood Watch?
Download Mid Sussex NHW info leaflet (670KB)
Downloading and Printing info here.

Members Handbook
Can be downloaded (in either PDF or ZIP format) from the news page.

The form below can be used by coordinators to post messages on this page, or submit corrections/updates to site pages:

Extranet
Coordinators can register on Extranet, part of the West Sussex Trading Standards site, designed to give practitioners specialist information.