The following article is reprinted from the Courier Mail, 7th August, 2013. It is worth a read and might encourage a few neighbours to turn up at our AGM next week.
Neighbourhood Watch groups are still keeping suburbs safe but new blood, tapped into via social media, is needed
I RECENTLY attended a meeting of the North Brisbane Chapter of The Order of The Dag. OK it was a Neighbourhood Watch forum but there were dags to the left of me, dags to the right - as unsexy a bunch as ever were gathered in one room.
But, perhaps as a fellow dag, I was quite happy among all these thoroughlydecent, well-meaning people, a human manifestation of the Higgs boson particle, the force that scientists always knew was there, holding the universe together but was so obscure no one could really tell what it actually was or how it did it.
Anyway, the theme of the forum was the future of NHW, with the aim to get more people involved in their local group.
The Newman Government has given a commitment to renew the program and move to a new framework that includes the use of social media to try to increase participation, increase reporting and improve collaboration between police and community to reduce and prevent crime.
NHW Queensland has remained virtually unchanged in its 25 years of operation yet the definition of "community'' has changed significantly. The notion of traditional community still has weight in society yet in reality online communities are gaining popularity because they don't involve the effort of getting to a meeting after a hard day's work and long commute. One can "commune'' from a keyboard.
It's no secret that all volunteer organisations are finding it hard to get new people involved, so the Queensland Police and the Government are hoping the use of social media can help NHW groups reach a wider audience.
If you ask locals about what they value most about the suburb where we live, it's that it's a nice quiet "safe" place to live. With stories of a crime wave in parts of Queensland, our little corner of suburbia feels so much more secure.
For the elderly in NHW areas it's a relief to be largely free from crime but, as importantly, free of the fear of crime. How do they know the area is safe? A regular NHW newsletter gives residents the crime stats in their area and stories of a burglary in your street or a burglary very nearby inevitably bringshome the consequences of lax security.
My fellow NHW dags and I have, over the years, nagged their local communities into good habits. Consequently over the last 13 years our community has seen crime rates drop from about one incident a fortnight - from graffiti, to car theft to burglary - down to negligible levels. If crooks are trying their luck in our area, they're coming up short.
But while the use of new technology to aid us in our key role of getting information out to households is welcome, I hope it doesn't lead to the complete demise of NHW volunteers because for many elderly people, social media will never reach them and personal contact from someone is a more reassuring example of a local "presence''.
Soon at NHW AGM's all over Queensland, the same old faces will be wondering if anyone new from their neighbourhood will show up and volunteer their time.
It's not strictly crisis time for volunteering, but as an insurance policy it might be worth strengthening your local community group before these particularly civil particles disappear into thin air forever.
Col Harrington is a Brisbane freelance writer
