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 WhatsApp Neighborhood Prevention and the emphasis placed by the police on burglary prevention is certainly bearing fruit. The number of 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 react quickly and can count on concrete indications from the neighborhood concerned. In the Netherlands, about 800.000 citizens have already been connected, which produces good results and takes a lot of work off the hands of the emergency services.
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 concrete can be worked with the group to achieve effective prevention. In practice, citizens who notice a situation that they feel is suspicious, report it to the emergency services. Then the emergency services in the WhatsApp group of that neighborhood will share information that is relevant. This is to call on other local residents to be more vigilant and to encourage them to contact them if they have additional information. In many cases, the information provided by the citizens means that the emergency services can act decisively and locate and arrest the burglars. The success of the WhatsApp neighborhood watch groups lies mainly in the fact that domestic burglaries in their own neighborhood are a fact that is close to the heart of local residents and they are therefore only too happy to contribute. It is important that these groups are only used for the actual purpose, namely the sharing of information about suspicious situations and persons. However, if the local residents also discuss the news from the neighbourhood, much of the actual purpose is lost and a lot of useful information can be overlooked. It is everyone's responsibility to watch over the functioning of the group in order to achieve good results and a safer neighbourhood.
You can also join the WhatsApp Neighborhood Prevention Group
Would you like to actively contribute to increasing safety in your own neighbourhood? Then join us today and join your neighbors in the fight against domestic burglaries. The more people participate and the more people can provide useful information to the emergency services, the more burglaries can be prevented and the more burglars and gangs of burglars can be stopped. Your contribution also adds value by reporting any situation that feels suspicious or abnormal to the competent services. Sound and effective prevention in the neighborhood starts with your own home. Make sure that your home is not an attractive target for burglars and work with your locksmith to ensure proper and professional security for your own home. A safe neighborhood where it is pleasant to live for everyone, that's what we all do together for. Your locksmith will gladly 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.
