In 1996/7 news media reports indicated that due to financial constraints, police forces throughout the country were having difficulty in coping with an upsurge in acquisitive crime being committed by an increasing number of drug addicts and professional burglars. It became obvious that householders needed to realise the dangers and become more proactive in protecting their own property.

In the Autumn 1997, I circulated the residents of Blenheim Road about the possibility of setting up a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. The response was overwhelmingly in favour, and by January 1998 the scheme was in existence. Since then it has progressively grown to include the whole of the village with Area Coordinators or Contacts in all areas. In 1999, with the approval of a General Meeting in the Village Hall, the Coordinators formed the Horspath Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) Committee. The Committee Members consult and communicate by email and telephone, and hold an AGM once a year to elect a Chairman and formulate policy. Other meetings take place as and when necessary. The Parish Council has supported the Committee in its recruitment drive to get the whole village covered by Neighbourhood Watch. It has funded the cost of buying notices, and printing materials for communications and recruitment circulars. There are few commitments made on householder members and only an occasional General Meeting in the Village Hall on matters relating to Home Security. The Horspath NHW Committee has a Policy Statement that outlines the way that it has approached the setting up of Neighbourhood "Home" Watch in the Village. Committee members recognise how precious time is to individuals in a busy and hectic modern world. It appreciates that privacy is also important.

Horspath, in common with most urban or rural communities, has a small element of its population who have no social conscience and care little about people or property. In a small community like ours these individual are generally well known and easily identified. The incidents of vandalism and criminal damage to Parish Council Property can nearly always be attributed to these known troublemakers. Experience has shown that this problem is generally confined to groups of youths at the crossroads of their lives between youth and adulthood who are at a loose end; they indulge in antisocial behaviour out of boredom or bravado. As they move into adulthood they usually become more aware of their responsibilities to their families and society in general. The newly created team of Thames Valley Police Community Support Officers have been very effective in monitoring this situation and making interventions to prevent it getting out of hand.

Being close to the urban areas of a large City like Oxford means we are vulnerable to visits from criminal elements that prey on motor vehicles and any insecure property. Being on a well-used "rat run" commuter route between the Oxford Ring Road and the M40 at Wheatley also makes Horspath vulnerable to the "drop in" opportunist thief.

Neville Buckett
Organiser/Coordinator/Committee Chair
Horspath Neighbourhood "Home" Watch
June 2009

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