Neighbourhood Watch (Hansard, 13 April 1989)

§ 7. Mr. Carrington
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many neighbourhood watch schemes are now established in England and Wales.

§ Mr. John Patten
At the end of March 1989 there were 66,423 neighbourhood watch schemes in England and Wales, covering approximately 3¾ million households. This is a new record—28 per cent. more neighbourhood watches than a year ago.

§ Mr. Carrington
I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his reply. Does he agree that the neighbourhood watch schemes have led to a reduction in the number of burglaries, particularly in London, and that their proven success in reducing crime is the best way of increasing the number of schemes and of encouraging residents to join and to participate?

§ Mr. Patten
I agree entirely with my hon. Friend that one of the best ways of accelerating the present happy decline in domestic burglary is to have more neighbourhood watches. Perhaps more district councils could follow the recent example of Brentwood district council, which has appointed its first neighbourhood watch co-ordinator. That could do a lot of good.

§ Mr. Sheerman
Does the Minister accept that, whale Opposition Members support neighbourhood watch schemes, they believe that those schemes must be linked into a positive partnership between the police and local authorities, and that if we are to have proper crime prevention we need to give democratically elected authorities a lead role in crime prevention? Will the Minister and the Home Secretary give those authorities the resources and the powers to do that job constructively?

§ Mr. Patten
Many Labour-controlled local authorities—in Hull, for example—are very happy to co-operate with the Home Office in the efforts to reduce crime through crime prevention measures. I only wish that the hon. Gentleman would bother to go to a county like Cleveland and advise the Labour-controlled local authority o co-operate with the neighbourhood watch movement instead of attacking it.

§ Sir Bernard Braine
Is my hon. Friend aware that the success of a neighbourhood watch scheme stems directly from the relationship of the police constable on the beat with the people themselves? In my constituency—where, two years ago, there were 60 break-ins a year in one particular area—since there has been a neighbourhood watch scheme, with a first-class police officer in charge, and co-operation from the local people, we have had no break-ins?

§ Mr. Patten
I hope that if my right hon. Friend extends an invitation to me he will let me meet the police constable and the people involved in the neighbourhood watch scheme. It is not just neighbourhood watch schemes in areas like Castle Point—my right hon. Friend's constituency—that produce these remarkable results; similar results are being produced in the rather more difficult territories of Islington, Rochdale and many of our great northern cities, and they deserve the support of the Labour party. That is why the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman) should go to Cleveland and give the Labour-controlled council there a good talking to.