GMP gives thanks to the home watchers
Greater Manchester Police hosted their second Annual Home Watch Conference on Tuesday 29 April 2008 at the City of Manchester Stadium to say 'thank you' to the Home Watch co-ordinators currently working within communities across north Manchester.
Over 150 residents attended the evening to hear guest speakers who were invited to talk about relevant areas of policing including terrorism and intelligence gathering.
Guests had the opportunity to meet other Home Watch co-ordinators and their local neighbourhood police officers as well as people attending on behalf of other agencies including Manchester City Council and the Fire Service.
The theme of this year's conference was 'Safer Neighbourhoods' to coincide with the north Manchester division's drive to promote neighbourhood policing and its values to the local communities.
Superintendent Bob Lomas, who gave a talk on this subject, said: "Neighbourhood policing is about engaging with the public. We are working to ensure we understand your issues and how best we can address them.
"The work that PCSOs and Home Watch schemes do, ensures that we can support vulnerable people and keep our neighbourhoods safer."
Chief Superintendent Gerry Donnellan gave out three awards; for contribution to Home Watch and neighbourhood policing over the last twelve months and closed the evening with a strong message for local residents: "Home Watch is about partnerships, with our residents but also with other agencies. Crime is falling in north Manchester and over the last few weeks we have recorded less crime than we have ever recorded before. We are succeeding together - this is the result of a good partnership."
North Manchester's Watch Scheme Administrator, Janet Hadley, said: "This year's conference was a resounding success. Everyone who attended said they had learnt something new about policing, particularly the importance of providing police with information, no matter how trivial it may seem. I am really pleased with the outcome of this event and look forward to organising next year's conference."
If anyone is interested in joining a local Home Watch scheme they can contact Janet Hadley on 0161 856 3610.
For further information contact: Rachel Bradley, GMP PR Officer for North Manchester Division on 0161 856 1327 or 07774 008 033.
Good Neighbours
Lifetime Achievement Award
Linda Viatic has been a Home watch coordinator since November 1996. She started with just 5 members. She first began Home Watch to keep her area safe and also to save money on home insurance! There are now approximately 270 houses covered by her scheme, including two Schools and a Public House. They all receive regular newsletters produced by Linda and she also distributes information she receives from GMP. Linda runs the scheme single handedly.
Best Newcomer
Steve Helme is a member of a large residents group in Openshaw. Steve was concerned about the level of crime and anti-social behaviour locally, and he approached the residents group about setting up a Home Watch scheme. He took on responsibility for this and helped to devise a policy for setting up very large schemes in a simple and effective way. This has paved the way for other large groups and will benefit Home Watchers for many years to come.
Best Support
Vito Juliano is a PCSO who started work with GMP just under a year ago. He was placed with a very enthusiastic new team who cover the Miles Platting area. Vito soon realised the potential of Home Watch and, with the support of his Community Beat Officer, has promoted the idea across the area, using a combination of hard work, excellent people skills and innovation.