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Neighbours unite to fight theftBay of Plenty Times
Everyone knows their neighbours, the kids play together on the street and the adults share a joke across the fence. But it wasn't always that way. Two years ago, resident Margaret Spencer was the victim of a break-in. And after her neighbour, Chris Hedges, chatted to others in the street, he soon learned that eight sheds had been broken into. Mr Hedges decided it was time to do something about it and started a Neighbourhood Support group. The members had a set-up meeting with local police, where everyone introduced themselves and swapped details. Since then, most communication has been done by email, though the neighbours got together at Christmas for a street barbecue. "It's brought everyone together to get to know each other," Mrs Spencer said. "Before, we might have said hello but that's about it. Now we can walk around and talk to somebody, it makes it much nicer." The neighbours keep an eye out for anything or anybody unusual on the street, and if any suspicious cars are hanging around, they will write down the registration number. But things have been "very quiet" since the group started, they say. The group erected Neighbourhood Watch signs on the street and also a sign warning motorists to watch out for children. Mr Hedges describes Neighbourhood Support as "retro social networking. People have lost that talent to talk to people one-on-one, they are texting or using computers. "It's really about the community spirit. It's encouraged people to know everyone else, to let them know who people are, without getting in people's faces. We don't want people knowing everything about everyone." Mrs Spencer said Neighbourhood Support was a return to days gone by. "We used to all know our neighbours but in this day and society there's a lot of people live next door to people and don't even know who they are. It's not friendly anymore." The Christchurch earthquake has prompted the group to compile a list of skills of people on the street. "I've sent out a request to everybody of who can do what in case of emergency," Mr Hedges said "I have a list of nurses, who has generators - it's an idea of being self sufficient. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a big event - the Christchurch earthquake is a big event but there's so many other things that can happen. We had floods a few years ago."Ellen Irvine
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