Chances are that WhatsApp is installed on your mobile phone, it is ideal to get in touch with your friends and family quickly and easily. The possibility to create discussion groups is an extra asset. Have you already thought that you can also use this app in the fight against burglaries? More and more neighborhoods have a WhatsApp neighborhood prevention group in which the police can quickly report suspicious situations in a certain neighborhood to the residents in order to call for increased vigilance.
Joined forces between police forces and civilians
Burglary prevention works, that much is certain. The combination of the WhatsApp Neighborhood Watch and the emphasis placed by the police on burglary prevention is certainly paying off. The number of home burglaries has fallen drastically in recent years and this proves that cooperation between citizens and the police really works. The police services cannot be everywhere at once and the extra eyes they receive from the neighborhood groups ensure that they can respond quickly and can count on concrete instructions from the neighborhood involved. In the Netherlands, approximately 800.000 citizens are already connected, which produces great results and takes a lot of work off the emergency services' hands.
WhatsApp neighborhood prevention in practice
The WhatsApp Neighborhood Prevention Foundation informs citizens about how they can set up such a group, how they can join an existing group and how they can concretely work with the group to achieve effective prevention. In practice, citizens who notice a situation that they consider suspicious report it to the emergency services. The emergency services will then share relevant information in the WhatsApp group of that neighborhood. This is to call on other local residents to be more vigilant and to encourage them to contact us if they have additional information. In many cases, the information provided by citizens means that the emergency services can take decisive action and locate and arrest the burglars. The success of the WhatsApp neighborhood watch groups mainly lies in the fact that home burglaries in their own neighborhood are a fact that is close to the hearts of local residents and they are therefore more than happy to do their part. It is important that these groups are only used for the actual purpose, namely sharing information about suspicious situations and people. However, if local residents also discuss news from the area here, much of the actual purpose is lost and a lot of useful information can be overlooked. It is everyone's responsibility to monitor the operation of the group in order to achieve good results and a safer neighborhood.
You can also join the WhatsApp Neighborhood Prevention Group
Would you also like to actively contribute to increasing safety in your own neighborhood? Then join us today and join your neighbors in the fight against home burglaries. The more people participate in this and the more people can provide useful information to the emergency services, the more home burglaries can be prevented and the more burglars and burglary gangs can be stopped. Your contribution also provides added value by reporting any situation that feels suspicious or abnormal to you to the competent services. Solid and effective prevention in the neighborhood starts at your own home. Make sure that your home is not an attractive target for burglars and, together with your locksmith, ensure proper and professional security for your own home. A safe neighborhood where it is pleasant to live for everyone, that is ultimately what we all strive for together. Your locksmith will be happy to contribute to this and ensure that your home and that of your neighbors escape the attention of burglars because it is too difficult to enter.
