"Many Photos" - Neighbourhood Watch insists its 2.3m members are frontline in fighting ISIS and human trafficking

Long-derided as nosy neighbours and busybodies, the Neighbourhood Watch has pulled back the curtain on its activities claiming its members are on the front-line of the fight against terrorism and human trafficking.

Last month in his column in The Guardian comedian David Mitchell accused Neighbourhood Watch volunteers of only focusing on small local crimes.

He joked that if they ran the NHS 'all the money would go to treating RSI caused by overenergetic net-curtain twitching' and added 'their best chance of arresting a mafia boss is if he plays the music too loudly at his Christmas party.'

Now the group's chief executive has hit back at what he called 'lazy stereotyping' of his 2.3 million members.

The Neighbourhood Watch is often thought of as being comprised of middle-class 'curtain twitchers' but its chief executive said that was 'lazy stereotyping' of a volunteer force which also tackles knife crime and terrorism

The Neighbourhood Watch briefs its members on what to look out for in terrorism suspects

More than 2 million Neighbourhood Watch volunteers act as 'eyes and ears' for the police

Neighbourhood Watch chief executive John Hayward-Cripps

18 terror plots foiled by public in 2 years

The UK's most senior counter terrorism officer, head of UK Counter Terrorism Policing Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said more than 22 per cent of all reports from the public produce intelligence which is helpful to police and revealed the number of attacks foiled since March 2017 has risen to 18.

These efforts are backed by the Neighbourhood Watch Network which last year launched a crime prevention toolkit aimed at tackling terrorism.

Mr Basu said: 'Thankfully, we did not see the horrors of 2017 repeated last year, but we should not be complacent enough to think the terrorist threat has diminished – the UK threat level remains at SEVERE meaning an attack is highly likely.

'Counter Terrorism Policing officers are currently running more than 700 live investigations nationwide, while crucial intelligence from the public has helped police and the security services prevent 18 terror attacks in just under two years.'

Source: Neighbourhood Watch 

John Hayward-Cripps told The Times: 'The idea that our members are only concerned with certain types of crime is baffling.

'Our volunteers run workshops to stop young people carrying knives, we teach older people to spot the signs of potential scams and we have produced crime-prevention toolkits that tackle human trafficking and terrorism.

'The police are key partners and we enhance the work of very stretched forces.'

According to the Neighbourhood Watch's terrorism toolkit, members should be wary of anyone who 'travels a lot but is vague about where they're going and why'.

Anyone seen buying or receiving deliveries of chemicals, fertilisers or gas cylinders should also be reported, it suggests.

Mr Hayward Cripps reached back to the heyday of the Dandy magazine and its nosiest character for a reference to refute, saying his volunteers were 'often characterised as a group of middle-class Keyhole Kates — spying on the neighbours, interfering in people's lives'.

But,  he told the paper, 'this lazy stereotyping does not reflect the real work of the modern Neighbourhood Watch.'

Neighbourhood Watch schemes, which began in the USA in the 1960s and launched in the UK in the early 1980s, have been shown to reduce crime in an area by up to 26 per cent. 

Local homeowners stay alert for suspicious activity and act as the 'eyes and ears' of the police.

Some groups have also gone out on the streets. In the village of Huncoat, Lancashire, members said last month that they would run round-the-clock patrols and set up a CCTV system after increases in crime.

It comes as police cast an even wider net when asking the public for help, with 22,000 emailed responses flooding in to a European-wide effort to crowdsource clues in complex child abuse investigations.

The Europol initiative shares photographs of seemingly-innocuous items which appear in images linked to child abuse.

Officers involved in the Trace An Object scheme which launched in 2017 have posted 283 images which generated the massive repsonse.

In one instance, a bathroom tile located by online amateur detectives became the missing piece in an international child abuse investigation and led to the arrest of a suspect and the identification of nine child abuse victims. 

Peep Show star's jokey jibe at net-curtain peepers

Comedian David Mitchell

Writing in The Guardian two weeks ago, Peep Show comedian David Mitchell said he had heard Police and Crime Commissioners 'aren't doing a very good job'

He wrote: 'According to the head of the National Crime Agency, they're all about stopping speeding and burglary, and not so hot on organised crime, online child abuse and modern slavery.

'It's not surprising. Making some local elected officials the overseers of the police is effectively putting the Neighbourhood Watch in charge of law enforcement strategy.

'They're going to address the issues most noticeable to the very small percentage of people who might turn out to vote for them.

'If they were in charge of healthcare, all the money would go to treating RSI caused by overenergetic net-curtain twitching. Their best chance of arresting a mafia boss is if he plays the music too loudly at his Christmas party.' 

His statements provoked a strongly-worded rebuttal from the Watch.

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News Photo Neighbourhood Watch insists its 2.3m members are frontline in fighting ISIS and human trafficking 
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