Service up-date

We are very pleased and excited to inform you about an important change in our service provision.

The Tower Hamlets Neighbourhood Watch Association (THNWA) will be servicing both Ourwatch and OWL registered users for Neighbourhood Watch.

We are all Neighbours.

Wherever you are registered on either service or both, you are able to join the Tower Hamlets Neighbourhood Watch Association as member with full voting rights by completing this form.

There are differences in both Neighbourhood Watch systems, but it is entirely your choice, which one you use and feel comfortable with. A lot of people use both.

Important differences:

Ourwatch	OWL

Neighbourhood Watch Network, serviced by Neighbourhood Alert, VISAV	Met Police, serviced by Direct Path
In Tower Hamlets Police do not use the system	In Tower Hamlets Police use the system
Service users nationwide 3 1/2 Million	used by ca 12 local councils with probably 100.000 users
Create Neighbourhood Watch schemes by creating a map of the area of your choice, this can be several blocks, a street or one tower block for example	You must join the Watch scheme available within your post code if there is one
your mapped scheme can be found and joined by locals online	there is no mapped scheme to view online, your registration allocates you to a local post code restricted scheme
unlimited cloud storage and ability to send and receive emails to/from members who can join even from a wider area	restricted communications ability to within local area only
National crime prevention alerts sent by users like Action Fraud, Get Safe Online, Ourwatch, ((Councils, Police, PCC (if subscribed))	Police crime alerts often within the local SNT Ward newsletter
Volunteer run system monitored by the National Neighbourhood Watch Network	Police run system monitored by Tower Hamlets Police
users can join our BCU Police messages WhatsApp Group	Users can join our BCU Police message WhatsApp group
Volunteers welcome to join as Police community volunteers and SNT Ward Panels	Users get direct SNT Ward Panel invites from local SNT teams
Provides regular training of volunteers, a knowledge hub and free public liability insurance for volunteers	no training other than if members join Met Police volunteers but can apply to join the knowledge hub.

Whichever system you choose for running your local Neighbourhood Watch, you will be entitled to use our Street watch signs, to be attached to lamp posts. To be accepted as watch coordinator follow the steps as described here.