Neighbourhood Watch celebrates 40 years of crime prevention

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For four decades now, volunteers like Bob Eisen have been using their eyes and ears to keep communities around South Australia safe.

Community crime prevention program Neighbourhood Watch turns 40 this month.

What started as a community initiative in the Adelaide suburb of Flinders Park in 1985 has since flourished into a movement, with as many as 600 Neighbourhood Watch groups established around the state by the mid-2000s.

Mr Eisen first joined Neighbourhood Watch in Murray Bridge 34 years ago, when a local police officer put a call out for volunteers who could help keep an eye on the western end of the city.

It had been satisfying to act as an extra set of eyes and ears for the law, he said; and to meet people and learn things at meetings.

He recalled one incident in particular which had given him a chuckle.

“A number of years ago there were three lads loitering around, one on the road, number two in the garden and the third out of sight,” he said.

“I phoned the local station and it wasn’t long until a patrol was there … and (constable) Greg Smith challenged the lad.

“He said ‘we lost a tennis ball over the fence’, and Greg told him, ‘I live there, not you!’”

The old catch phrase was still a good one, Mr Eisen said: if you see something, say something.

He, fellow volunteer Maurice Wegener and SA Police Senior Constable David Brown marked the 40-year anniversary with a stall at Murray Bridge Marketplace on Monday, sharing information and giving away promotional material.

Senior Constable Brown said about 25 members still came along to local Neighbourhood Watch meetings every second month.

He encouraged more community members to come along and find out more about the group, especially if they were younger than retirement age.

“We like to get out and … pass on information from police reports to Neighbourhood Watch, for people to pass on in their own groups,” he said.

“If they see something amiss, they contact us.

“More eyes and ears … are going to make Murray Bridge a safer community for everybody.”

Volunteer presence reduces crime

At one stage there were as many as 600 Neighbourhood Watch groups in South Australia.

Police Minister Stephen Mullighan said they had been proven to reduce crime by up to 26 per cent.

“Neighbourhood Watch has been an institution in South Australia for decades,” he said.

“This 40-year milestone is really a celebration of the hundreds of volunteers who work tirelessly with police to report suspicious activity and stop criminal behaviour in its tracks.”

There aren’t quite so many Neighbourhood Watch groups left these days.

“More than 70” remained active earlier this month, according to Mr Mullighan.

That includes the one in Murray Bridge, which is the product of a merger between two groups in 2023.

But their greatest success may have been the influence they have had on SA Police, who took on many of Neighbourhood Watch’s crime prevention strategies after a review in the early 2000s.

The ranks of Murray Mallee police now include officers who work specifically in the field of crime prevention, educating and building relationships with community members; and community constables who work more closely with particular segments of the community.

Still, the local Neighbourhood Watch group will remain a valuable weapon in the fight against crime for many years to come.

• More information:Visit www.police.sa.gov.au; contact Michelle Roberts on 0484 001 511 or at nhwmurraybridge@gmail.com; or attend a meeting at Owl Drive Lutheran Homes at 6pm on the third Tuesday of every second month, with the next meeting on June 24.
• Read more: Join in … with Murray Bridge Neighbourhood Watch