Not just ‘nosy neighbours’

Rather than being an outlet for gossip-hungry residents, Rockingham Neighbourhood Watch continues to develop and acts as an active crime deterrent, according to City of Rockingham Crime Prevention projects officer Rachael Parkes.

A Victorian parliamentary committee has labelled its neighbourhood watch program as ‘‘nosy and old,’’ and gave its volunteers two years to prove the program’s worth.

But Mrs Parkes said Rockingham’s group was constantly building and communication had kept the neighbourhood watch ball rolling.

‘‘We want to get rid of the stigma that NHW is for nosy parkers,’’ she said.

‘‘NHW volunteers provide crime prevention information to neighbours in their street and encourage neighbours to get to know one another to help build a safe and supportive street,’’ she said.

Rockingham suburb manager Bob Cooper said neighbourhood watch had about 8000 members and 180 participants.

He said it also helped to reduce crime ‘‘100 percent’’.

‘‘We don’t get involved — we just report things and if anyone wants any help they can phone us and we assist in the best way we can,’’ he said.

‘‘If there are any burglaries in Rockingham the police let Rachael know and she passes the information on to the regular groups and we go out and deliver burglary letters to the public to help the police out.’’

Safety Bay suburb manager Bob Mummery said feedback from residents was ‘‘positive’’.