Facebook revival for Shropshire Neighbourhood Watch scheme

The organiser for Highley Neighbourhood Watch has plans to set up a network of rural "eyes" to track criminals to reduce thefts.

Efforts to revive the village's group using social media network Facebook has so far attracted 391 members and has replaced the need for traditional monthly meetings.

Area organiser Dave Tremellen said he set up the internet group after no-one came forward to run the scheme when the previous organiser stepped down due to illness.

Mr Tremellen said the streets were left with 'watch' signs, but there were no activities. His comments follow regional moves to revive neighbourhood watch operations in Telford and in Shropshire using the internet after a dramatic fall in membership.

In 2013 a review was launched due to concerns that the number of people involved across the county had fallen from 9,000 to 2,600. At an annual meeting next month changes will be made including to the West Mercia Neighbourhood Watch constitution in a bid to boost its fortunes.

Mr Tremellen said: "People and the neighbourhoods they live in are no longer what they were when Neighbourhood Watch was originally conceived.

"That was something that came home to me when I first looked to join the Highley group and discovered that the plaques at the end of estate roads were just that, plaques at the end of estate roads, otherwise they were meaningless because Highley Neighbourhood Watch hadn't existed for several years. There was nothing to join."

"Having seen numerous Facebook reports of local incidents I could see the potential for disseminating information of mutual interest and benefit to everyone, at least those with a computer and internet and a social media presence, and so I started the Highley Neighbourhood Watch Facebook page and simply shared posts, indicating what I'd done on the page of the person whose report of an incident I had shared. Word spread and it took off."

He explained that he hoped to set up a network of rural "eyes" using social media posts to cover the likely routes that criminals would use to flee after carrying out thefts in the area.