FAQs, How to Guides and Useful Documents

Yes, please check out and follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cheshirenwa

We have a closed Facebook group which is only accessible to Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators in Cheshire. If you wish to join the group please click on the link below, answer the questions and agree to the rules. One of the CNWA volunteers will check you against the system to make sure you are a registered coordinator before allowing you into the group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cheshirenwcoords

Guidance for collection suspicious information 

Record what you can. 

If you are concerned, report it immediately. 

Examples of what you could collect: 

1. Date, time, place of incident 
2. Vehicles - registration, colour, make, model 
3. People - age, hair/skin colour, height, accent, nicknames, clothing, brand names 
4. Anything that distinguishes the vehicle/person - signwriting, towbar, tattoos, unusual clothing, jewellery 

Tell them what you know, not who you are 

Crimestoppers is an independent charity that works with police forces throughout the UK that people can use to pass on information about a crime anonymously. 

• Phone: 0800 555 111 (24 hours a day and 7 days a week). 
• Online form: anonymous online reporting form 

You don't have to give them your name or any personal information. Calls are not recorded and cannot be traced. 

An invaluable service 

The phone number provides an invaluable community service, so that anybody who has information about criminal activity can pass it on, without living in fear of the consequences. Many criminals exploit people's fear to avoid arrest. 

Every call is treated with absolute anonymity so that nobody will know the identity of the caller, except you, the caller. Rewards are also available and are paid without compromising a caller's anonymity. 

The information you give is passed onto the police. It is a simple and secure way of bringing criminals to justice, without anybody knowing who the information came from. 

The Neighbourhood Watch Network (NWN) have prepared a document for Force Area and Borough Associations and Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators: NWN Data Protection Guidance 2018. 

This Guidance takes account of impending changes to Data Protection legislation under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that are relevant to Neighbourhood Watch members. These changes come into effect on 25th May 2018. 

It has been prepared after extensive consultation with the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office), other partners and some of their members. 

The Guidance condenses a number of separate guidance documents published by the ICO into one document that is relevant for the type of data held by Neighbourhood Watch groups and the purpose that these data are used for. For ease of use also included is a quick checklist as an annex highlighting the main areas that you as a Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator need to consider and where in the document you can find further guidance. 

The NWN have received reassurance from the ICO that there is no need for Neighbourhood Watch to reaffirm the consent of our current members for their data to be used for the purposes of communication and scheme administration by either their local Force Area/ Borough Associations, Neighbourhood Watch coordinators or Neighbourhood Watch Network (on the national Scheme Register). Going forward this consent will need to be evidenced for new members joining us. Changes are underway to the national Neighbourhood Watch Scheme Register on Neighbourhood Alert to ensure that the system is fully compliant by 25th May 2018 and it is easier for Neighbourhood Watch members to register and their consent to be evidenced. 

NWN recommends that member data be stored on the national NW Scheme Register (Cheshire Neighbourhood Watch).