Manningham NHW
Programs
Our NHW is undertaking a number of programs that are aimed at reducing crime and improving safety in Manningham. If you would like more information about a project or would like to get involved in the implemention, please email us at: manningham.nhw@gmail.com
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Our more significant programs are:
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To receive more information on specific programs, please click on the following hyperlinks above.
Educating the Community
A most critical role of Manningham NHW is educating the community on ways of reducing crime and making our area safer. An important tool for doing this since NHW started is the newsletter. Over 28,000 newsletters are delivered by our volunteers every second month to about 70% of the residents of the municipality. The newsletters provide information on recent crime trends and tips for combating these and other crimes.
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In addition, Manningham NHW now has nearly 800 Facebook followers and nearly 400 subscribers to our monthly E-News. Also, the Park Orchards Community News, which is published most months, and is distributed by NHW volunteers, includes a page of crime prevention information supplied by NHW.
Letterboxing Project
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For a few years the “Letterboxing Team” has been working to support the work of the Police by distributing crime prevention information in areas that have been identified as crime “hotspots”.
The pool of team members continues to grow which ensures that members are available when needed. Every month, a group of ten from the team of volunteers go to a crime hotspot where they distribute some 1,000 brochures in one and a half hours. Recently, the team was supplemented by Holly, the dog of one of our volunteers. Although she can’t reach the letterboxes, she enjoys her outing with the Letterboxing Team.
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The Letterboxing Team members are also on call to form a "flying squad" if the Police need an area letterboxed on short notice eg seeking information after a crime has been committed. By NHW volunteers doing these tasks it frees up skilled and experienced Police members get on with the work that they trained to do.
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Operation Safe Plate
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Theft of vehicle number plates has been a concern for many years.
The Manningham Neighbourhood Watch is running a campaign to encourage motorists to secure their car number plates with “one-way” screws.
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The screws have heads that allow installation with a normal screwdriver but need the use of a special tool for their removal. These one-way screws make it very difficult for the plate to be stolen. Please see the image on the right as an example.
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Getting to Know Your Neighbours
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Manningham NHW believes that a friendly community is a safer community. We are running a pilot program, supported by a Community Grant from Manningham Council, to try to create friendly local communities where more people know their neighbours. We believe there is a step by step process (see part of the program brochure below) that residents could follow as a way of getting to know their neighbours.
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At this stage, the pilot program involves 1,000 homes in Manningham. One third of the homes in the trial are each located in East Doncaster, Templestowe and Bulleen. Whilst NHW has distributed an information brochure to all of the homes in the pilot program, we tried a different approach in one area by also installing temporary signs, to encourage residents to become involved in the program. This would help us decide which approach might yield the best results if we roll out the program more widely across the municipality.
Despite the Covid 19 lockdowns the “before” surveys of residents were completed and the program brochures distributed in the three trial areas. The temporary signs (see the top of this page), were erected by Council staff in the Templestowe trial area.
The trial project is now complete following the submission of the ‘after” study responses. The conclusion from the project was that there was an increase in the interaction between neighbours as a result of our efforts.
As an aside, the COVID-19 publicity with the theme of looking out for each other, might have helped our cause.
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Safety in High-Rise Buildings
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This project arose from concerns of both residents and the Police about safety and security in high-rise apartment buildings. The concerns ranged from theft of goods from storage cages in carparks, through theft from vehicles in the carparks, to disturbances caused by parties in short-stay rental apartments.
The Police and other first-responders also have concerns about emergency access to high-rise buildings.
The steps in the program are:
• Identify three pilot sites in Manningham that have safety and security concerns.
• Meet the relevant Building Managers to get support for a review of the safety and security of the residents.
• Survey residents and meet with them to identify their safety and security concerns.
• The Police and NHW identify possible measures to address these concerns.
• Implement the measures progressively to improve safety in the buildings.
• Broaden the program in Manningham and beyond.
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The discussions that had commenced with residents of The Pinnacle in Doncaster Road, were stopped by the Covid 19 lockdown. During the lockdown, a draft of the program brochure was produced (see above). The Panorama building diagonally opposite Shoppingtown has been identified as the second trial site because there have been problems with short-stay tenants. A third trial site is being determined from Police crime data.
It is hoped that several buildings in the Melbourne central city area will be included as trial sites for the project in the future.
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NHW in Schools
In 2012, we developed the Junior Watcher Activity Book for children in Grades Prep to 2. These were provided to all students in Manningham in Grades Prep to 2 (see below). To date nearly 30,000 copies of this book have been distributed both widely in Victoria and in a couple of locations interstate. The book is now in its second edition. In 2014 we produced a computer game on crime prevention for older primary school students.
Over the last four years Manningham NHW has been working with Year 9/10 students from Doncaster Secondary College to find ways of getting crime prevention and home security messages across to teenagers. It is believed that teenagers would be more receptive to crime prevention information that is produced by their peers rather than material that has been prepared by adults for adults. As a case in point, in 2019 the students produced a crime prevention video with minimal teacher supervision. The video can be viewed by clicking the following link: Students' Video
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We also continue to facilitate visits from the Police Crime Prevention Officer to Primary Schools in our area so that the students can learn the fundamentals of crime prevention and staying safe. If you would like a visit to your school please contact us at: manningham.nhw@gmail.com
Welcome Packs
For many years, Manningham NHW has produced “Welcome Packs” which contain the Community Safety Guide which provides crime prevention and home security information in an easy to read format. The packs also contain the "Knock Knock" brochure which has removable introduction slips that residents can leave in their neighbours' letterboxes as a way of making contact with them. Finally there is a NHW recruiting brochure telling the recipient about our organisation.
The Welcome Packs are distributed through the local real estate agents, to new residents of Manningham and by NHW volunteers at Council Citizenship Ceremonies to “new Australians”. To date we have distributed nearly 3,800 of the packs.
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