End of watch: Neighbourhood Watch Surf Coast to wind up

AFTER nearly two decades of serving the community, an inability to find new and younger members has forced Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) Surf Coast into disbanding for good in a matter of days.

Originally starting in March 2003 with 15 members, the group unanimously decided at their general meeting on March 7 that NHW Surf Coast would wind up at the close of business on Thursday, March 31.

David Cheatley, who has been NHW Surf Coast’s co-ordinator and secretary since 2006, said many efforts had been made over the past decade to elect existing members or find new ones in the community to take on office bearer roles, including a possible amalgamation with NHW Armstrong Creek, but these had all proved unsuccessful.

“There doesn’t seem to be a concern from our community members that they have really sort of welded onto what Neighbourhood Watch is all about – looking after one another, caring for one another, being a good neighbor, watching out.

“It doesn’t seem to be resonating.

“I think it is in Melbourne, but obviously they’ve got much more crime and aggravated burglaries.”

Mr Cheatley had earlier announced his intentions to step down as co-ordinator this year.

He said he regretted the group winding up while he was in charge, and feared his plan to step down may have precipitated the decision to end NHW Surf Coast.

“It is disappointing, and especially on my watch.

“I could see that if I didn’t put my hand up each year, it wasn’t going to happen, because people today in our group are getting into their late 70s and early 80s – I think a lot of other groups are much the same – and they don’t want to take on the responsibilities that have been brought on to us now that we’re our own autonomous group.

“There’s a sense of disappointment, but I think it’s well and truly overridden by a sense of what a great team that we had, and what good things we did for our community and assisting our police keep crime pretty low down here.”

NHW Surf Coast has created and run more than a dozen projects and initiatives (some on a repeated basis) during its lifetime.

These include delivering 6,000 NHW newsletters each quarter, “Coffee with a Cop” morning teas in Torquay North and at the Torquay Bowls Club, “Safe Plate Days” in the Bunnings car park every year from 2009 to 2019, and setting up signs in Torquay’s beach car parks to remind residents and visitors to “Lock it or lose it”.

He thanked Leading Senior Constable Roger Licheni, the Torquay NHW’s contact at the Torquay Police Station, for all his efforts over the years.

“The local police have been really, really good,” Mr Cheatley said.

“They’ve been involved when we’ve put up our beach car park signs, which has reduced theft from vehicles and the theft of vehicles down here.

“It was a major crime down here, and I think today it’s quite isolated.”

He said if NHW Surf Coast was to be resurrected in the future, it would need at least six and ideally closer to 10 core members for it to be a success.