Police encourage Falkirk residents to sign up for new alert system

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We are currently working in partnership with Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, which is an alert system, designed to provide

information and awareness, to local residents, relating to criminality or incidents of note ongoing in your local areas.

"However, for the scheme to be as efficient as possible, we need the public’s support to sign up.”

Neighbourhood Watch is a community led initiative to bring local people together to address crime and other community safety issues. Neighbourhood Watch groups often liaise with the local police, the local authority and other agencies.

A Neighbourhood Watch Scotland spokesperson said: “The concept originated in the United States and was introduced into the UK in the 1980s. Behind it lies a very simple idea - working together can help to improve your community.

“Neighbourhood Watches can be large, covering most of the households on an estate, or they might involve just a few houses. They may meet frequently, or keep in

touch via e-mail or social media.

"There really is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to Neighbourhood Watch. Neighbourhood Watch adapts to fit the community it serves."

There are a number of benefits to being a member of the scheme, with areas of local concern being addressed and individual residents’s problems become a shared problem as people work together to make their communities safer.

It also gives you the ability to work together with other Neighbourhood Watch schemes, the police and other partners and get to know your neighbours, local police

officers and other service providers.

If residents are looking to set up their own Neighbourhood Watch scheme they should gauge the level of interest your neighbours have for the idea – a Neighbourhood Watch is most effective when the majority of people in an area are members of the scheme and understand what it is about

A scheme can generally be of any size. It can be a whole street, one side of the street, one half of the street, a cul-de-sac, a few cottages, a whole block of flats.

Police are asking people to visit the Neighbourhood Watch Scotland website to sign up.