Ipswich suburb pushing for Neighbourhood Watch program

Police are receiving phone calls from residents eager to get meetings up and running again

Springfield Police are receiving phone calls from residents eager to get meetings up and running again.

After taking a long break during Covid, the neighbourhood watch program in Springfield is ready to kick into gear again.

Springfield Police Station’s Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Ben Mackenzie said interest in neighbourhood watch had grown following a police call out.

“We’ve drummed up a bit of interest and certainly received some phone calls this week,” Senior Sergeant Ben Mackenzie said.

“(We think we’ve) got enough interest to get a committee up and running again.”

Interest in the program dropped during the height of Covid.

“With everything else going on, we struggled to find community members interested in taking up committee positions,” he said.

“While there were a couple of people interested, there wasn’t sufficient interest to keep it ticking over.”

He said meetings had been temporarily suspended.

“It took a reprieve with Covid, the community being not that interested,” he said.

“But they’re certainly interested in kicking it off again now.”

Senior Sergeant Mackenzie said police were hoping to restart the committee and fill positions.

“It is a committee at the end of the day and does have office bearers, such as a treasurer, secretary and chairperson,” he said.

He said people’s lives had been getting back to normal post-Covid and after 2020’s Halloween storms.

“A lot of our community initiatives are seeing a lot more interest,” he said.

“I wouldn’t put it down to crime per say but certainly (people want the Neighbourhood Watch program due to) an interest in making sure the community is plugged in with the police and confirming the actual crime rate versus the social media crime rate.”

The first Neighbourhood Watch meeting will be held at the Springfield Lakes YMCA Community Centre.

It will begin at 6pm on March 17.

Anyone interested in attending is invited to turn up.

Read more news by Ebony Graveur.

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