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Dear Isobel Barnes,
Following your expression of interest in the role of District Coordinator Neighbourhood Watch in North Herts, Keith Batchelor - Chair of HertsWatch (our county Neighbourhood Watch Committee), has asked me to contact you.
I am John Hammond and have been active with Neighbourhood Watch in Baldock, where I live, for over 35 years and, since 2017, I have been District Coordinator for Neighbourhood Watch in North Herts. It is now an appropriate time for me to step down, although I hope to remain as a local coordinator in my own town.
Deputy District Coordinator, Linda Brandish (Hitchin) now also wishes to step down, so there will shortly be two vacancies for volunteers in these key roles.
The job role would best be described in a face-to-face meeting but, as an interim step, I have listed a few topics to set the scene and can provide more information in due course - and, if you are interested in becoming District Coordinator, I suggest that a discussion by telephone might be worthwhile before any face-to-face meeting.
On 1st April 2024, Herts Police switched off the old on-line watch (OWL) system and introduced Herts Connected, also known as Neighbourhood Alert. Unfortunately, we could not just transfer all member software from the old scheme to the new one and we have had to rebuild new watch schemes. We now have 636 approved schemes and coverage of our area is now most complete.
North Herts District extends from Knebworth and Codicote in the south-east to Royston and satellite villages in the north-east. The western and northern areas include Letchworth and Hitchin, and the rural area up to the county boundary with Luton then down to Kimpton. Our area does not include Stevenage which is a District in its own right with its own coordinator.
North Herts is one of 10 Districts in Hertfordshire and District Coordinators meet once a quarter as members of HertsWatch - meetings are usually in St Albans although our next meeting on the evening of 9th December is probably going to be at the new Police HQ in Welwyn Garden City.
In North Herts a small number of us are qualified as MSA’s - the term originally meant Multi Scheme Administrator - but is also described as Member Support Administrator - we fulfil both functions! This gives us oversight and control measures necessary to manage the Watch Schemes in N. Herts
Having created the watch schemes under Herts Connected, our next job is to encourage members of each one to become local (street/road coordinators) and we have some work to do there.
To become a District Coordinator some training is necessary to qualify as an MSA - and this can be provided both locally and via the national organisation and by VISAV who are the company that manages Herts Connected / Neighbourhood Alert - and provides the same system to some 30 police forces in other areas of the UK. Experience as a local watch scheme coordinator, use of a computer along with a willingness to engage with people are useful attributes for the role. The role involves some travel from time to time within North Herts.
In North Herts we do have some equipment, most of which is kept at Hitchin Police station - enabling events for the public to be run - although we have not done many recently. We have an ample supply of Neighbourhood Watch street signs to deploy in our area - some are kept in police stations and smaller numbers are left with MSA’s at home or occasionally with a coordinator.
We have a bank account with Barclays; current signatories being Linda Brandish and myself and whoever takes on the District Coordinator role will need to take over that account. Since the Herts Connected system was introduced, each District needs to raise some funding as the regular grant we received in the past from the OPCC stopped two years ago although I understand that a small amount of funding will be received this year.
District Coordinators are vetted and receive a smart pass for access to police stations in the area - the vetting lasts for 3 years. A significant role of the job is to liaise with local police and, in North Herts, the police are based at Hitchin, Letchworth and Royston,
District Coordinators have enhanced access permission on the Herts Connected System to give oversight of their area. The best way to learn more of that is to demonstrate the system in operation.
If you would like to follow up with a discussion by telephone and then a structured meeting I would be happy to arrange it.
I look forward to hearing from you (E-Mail: john.hammond1@btinternet.com) and a discussion if you would like to progress matters further.
With Kind Regards,
John Hammond
Volunteer District Coordinator - Neighbourhood Watch, North Herts
MSA - Herts Connected / Neighbourhood Alert
Mobile: 07940 548220
E-Mail: john.hammond1@btinternet.com | 
