Darlington Neighbourhood Watch Association (DNHWA)

Darlington Neighbourhood Watch Association (DNHWA)

For your own benefit, please read all of my letter.

Hello and welcome to the 25 people who have joined the Neighbourhood Watch Network in the last few days.  Many of you are not in the Darlington Borough but in order for the Neighbourhood Watch Network in London to provide you with the support you need to make your home and family safe, you have been assigned to the Darlington Neighbourhood Watch Association, (the only Association operating in County Durham). It is entirely free of charge. The Neighbourhood Watch Network is the largest and most effective volunteer group in the UK fighting crime. My name is Richard Beaumont and I am Chair of the Darlington Neighbourhood Watch Association and MSA (Member Support Administrator) for County Durham. With the exception of those who have already been recruited into a local scheme, the rest of you can remain a single member of DNHWA in your street. But we do strongly recommend you share the protection we provide with your neighbours by creating a Scheme with the people in your street, so that they too can receive the updates on scams and fraud the Network will send you by email; and local crime reports from the Durham Police Force through their website “keepintheknow.” Some people join us through this Website. 

It is important that we also have your telephone number just in case you change your email address without informing us, or it has stopped working, and you will stop getting information from the Network in London. The Network system will advise me of their failure to contact you through your email. They will ask me to contact you by phone to ask you to check if your email is working. This is why we need your phone number.

The purpose of DNHWA is to provide all our members with support and advice on any issues you may have involving threats to your home or family. If you would like to enjoy the much increased protection of having all your neighbours working together as members of Neighbourhood Watch, and looking out for each other to protect your area from crime, you would start your own Scheme. This is set up by you volunteering, through “ourwatch.org.uk,” to become the  Coordinator for the street you wish to represent, and name it. You will then request from me pamphlets, like the picture below, to introduce yourself to all the people in your street that you hope to recruit.  Invite them to log into the Network  ourwatch.org.uk and volunteer as a member that they too may receive all the warnings that will help them and their neighbours keep safe.  If your neighbours trust each other, they will tell their near neighbours when they are going away so their friends can keep watch over their home. For example, a neighbour sees a van parked at another neighbour's home while they are away, with some dubious activity going on at the property, they will call the police.  

Open the website ourwatch.org.uk and make sure you have completed all your personal information for your application. The system is fully committed to your security, so your data is fully protected.  As MSA I am authorized, by my going through four rigorous security checks, each time I need to gain access to some of your information and enable me to communicate with you. I cannot share your information with others, nor would I want to. I am a volunteer with a commitment to help people keep safe online.

I will help you set up your Scheme and, apart from the initial canvassing of your street to recruit new members, there is very little to do on a weekly basis, especially if all your neighbours are linked to the Neighbourhood Watch Network.  You can encourage those who are doubtful by forwarding to them the more interesting emails you will receive. When you have recruited a maximum of 24 properties (that will be as much as you can cope with to start with) I will erect a sign in your street stating “THIS IS A NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH AREA”

Contact me when you are ready, through the Network reply system which you should see now and leave me a message.

With my regards Richard  Beaumont