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Aims and Objects

The Neighbourhood Watch Scheme (NWS), run on the basic that law can be better enforced and crime can be better prevented with the cooperation of the people, is known to have achieved considerable success in the countries where it has been introduced. These include U.K., USA,Canada and Australia. In fact, the objectives of the Scheme everywhere are broadly as follows:

a) to reduce property crime;
b) to foster police-community relations;
c) to increase community spirit;
d) to reduce juvenile crime by getting the youths also involved in the Scheme.

Under the Scheme, the police first identifies a neighbourhood and then contacts its citizens in order to motivate them to together keep their eyes, and ears open in their own neighbourhood in order to prevent crime. Apart from residential areas, similar schemes can be planned for business areas, apartments, high-rise buildings, etc.

This paper proposes a broad blue-print of a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme for Delhi taking into account the conditions peculiar of unique to an urban Indian environment. The Scheme is proposed to be introduced gradually and, as a first step, it is proposed to introduce it in two or three crime-prone areas in each of the nine police districts. As the basic objective of the Scheme is to prevent crime, it is proposed to select those residential areas known to be vulnerable to the following property crimes:-

a) robberies and burglaries
b) thefts
c) vehicle thefts
d) snatchings

Once an area is identified, it will be the task of the local police, especially the SHO and the ACP, to organise the residents into a cohesive and homogeneous group. For this purpose, the help of the local SPOs and residents' associations, if any, will be enlisted. The residents will be persuaded to organise a meeting and effort will be made to motivate as many residents as possible to participate in it. As personal invitations are generally hard to decline, local police officers and SPOs will individually contact the residents in order to motivate them to attend the meeting. The broad details of the Scheme will be explained and Neighbourhood Watch Committee (NWC) will be constituted. Headed by a coordinator, the NWC will have representatives of the police, local bodies, residents' associations, local voluntary organisations and the residents. Ideally, each NWC should cover not more than about 500 houses. Alternatively, the jurisdiction of each NWC could be equivalent to the beat of the local Beat Constable.