February 2022
Hello
Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators and local elections May 2022
We are contacting you today following several enquiries from Associations raising concerns regarding the upcoming local elections. It appears that some members or volunteers are standing for election and are publicising this to members, across social media platforms relating to Neighbourhood Watch or promoting Neighbourhood Watch in their publications.
During the run up to elections, we understand that local issues are more prominent. Neighbourhood Watch, as you are aware, is a non-political organisation and it is run by local people and of course many of our volunteers have been past councillors, are current councillors or are indeed running as new candidates to become a local councillor. This is because they are local people who are passionate about their communities.
Neighbourhood Watch supports our members passion for their community, but we would like to share with you guidance for those who are active Neighbourhood Watch volunteers and members and who are also standing for election, as it is important that the organisation is not used as a platform for promoting political parties.
- When using a Neighbourhood Watch based social media account or communication method (email, Neighbourhood Watch member platform etc), please do not promote that you are standing for election or for which political party and do not make remarks about others and their parties that are standing for election.
- You are free to tell local people that you are an active Neighbourhood Watch volunteer or member in your community, in the same way that you would tell them about the other activities, interests or roles. This should be undertaken through other non-Neighbourhood Watch channels
- Please do not politicise Neighbourhood Watch in anyway.
We understand the desire of our members to be active in our communities, promoting solutions and building networks to help strengthen our resilience, enable the health and well-being of our residents, and support our neighbours to reduce opportunities and the fear of crime. We have done this for the past 40 years as part of being members of Neighbourhood Watch and we will continue to do this in our community.
If you have any questions, please contact our Central Support Team at enquiries@ourwatch.org.uk.
Best wishes
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH NETWORK | Central Support Team