Neighbourhood Watch programme looks for growth

On Saturday some two hundred representatives of Neighbourhood Watch programmes throughout the country gathered at the George Price Centre in Belmopan to give updates on each community’s plan of action to address crime and share ideas on how best to move forward. But not everyone is participating in the effort. Today News Five’s Jacqueline Woods spoke with the programme’s National Coordinator Joseph Sampson to find out what they plan to do to get everyone on board.

Joseph Sampson, Natl. Coordinator, Neighbourhood Watch
“We had people from all over the country, different ages, students, community activists, police officers, members of the National Neighbourhood Watch Taskforce. I would say that we have reached another milestone in the neighbourhood watch programme because what has happened is that we have brought more and more to the forefront the significance and the importance of people coming together to work with the police to reduce the opportunities for crime.”

Jacqueline Woods
“Neighbourhood watch programmes have been established throughout the country except Belize City. There seems to be a problem in a place where crime seems to be most prevalent. What is happening?”

Joseph Sampson
“In fact, ironically I will share that the least number of delegates to the conference on Saturday was from Belize City, and it was rather disappointing because it was hoped that we would have much more representation from Belize City. And it does indicate to us that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in Belize City and we are ready to face the challenge and we are going to actually be sitting with the stakeholders and looking at what we can do to ensure that next year we will have a better story to tell where Belize City is concerned. But I do believe that there is interest in Belize City. The meetings that we have had have indicated that there are people of interest and we need to get to these people.”

Some community neighbourhood watch programmes have assisted the police by conducting patrols and others have also provided the police with resources such as bicycles, scooters, radios, and other means of communication.