WatchNotes 26: 3rd July 2026

Neighbourhood Watch

1st-7th June was National Neighbourhood Watch Week. I’d be keen to hear from any NEL based NW Groups whether they did anything special that week with their members or community. Let me know.

During the week we were pleased to formalise a brand new Neighbourhood Watch Group on a section of the Haven Holiday Park in Cleethorpes. And this followed recent creation of a new group in Rose Gardens Immingham. We continue to have interest in setting up new groups, so if you’re interested please contact me to discuss.

A reminder to Coordinators that I hold a good supply of Neighbourhood Watch Window Stickers. If your members/neighbours need stickers please contact me.

I’m also reviewing Neighbourhood Watch street signage. From the heyday of Neighbourhood Watch in the years before social media, there were hundreds of groups and street signs across North East Lincolnshire. Whilst groups have come and gone, the signs are on lampposts and walls still and are now of varied quality. Let me know what’s what with the signs in your area. Do you have a group that needs new signs? Are your signs in good condition or poor and need replacing? Anything you can tell me would be useful. Email me.

Community Safety

This week has been Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Week.This is a national campaign bringing together housing, policing, local government, charities and community partners to shine a spotlight on ASB, strengthen local responses, and amplify the rights of victims. 
Read an opinion piece from OurWatch here: “It’s everyone’s business: working together to tackle antisocial behaviour”
From the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner – a response to ASB: “Tackling e-scooter use a priority for OPCC following Anti-Social Behaviour survey”. There’s a summary from the analysis of the ASB Survey 2026 results as an image here, and the whole analysis report can be read here.

This is an older article (from April) but demonstrates a Humber-wide commitment to tackling ASB through signing the ASB Pledge. All four Councils, Humberside Police and the OPCC have all committed to the ASB Pledge. There are now also new roles locally including a Restorative Justice Worker and a Victim Champion. Following on from the Humberside ASB Conference back in May, there is a concerted local effort to keep working hard to tackle ASB across North East Lincolnshire. Read: “North East Lincolnshire committed to preventing ASB and helping victims with latest pledge” for more detail about the pledge.

If you want a deep dive into ASB, then read this report: “Making Communities Safer: Understanding anti-social behaviour in the UK: new research commissioned by Resolve”

“New scheme looks to tackle ASB in Immingham town centre”. Read about the new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in place in Immingham now.

More information about ASB from ASB Help here; from Humberside Police here, and from NELincs Council here.

In other Community Safety news:

“Council CCTV helps police over 350 times in operation against bad driving”. Have you heard about Operation Snap? You can help tackle dangerous driving.

We have produced a guide to all things related to Community Safety. You can find it on NELwatch here. Share the link widely so that we can keep residents informed on where to find useful information. Our newest update is our page on why reporting crime properly is so important.

Scams and Fraud

VANEL are very pleased to have been funded once again to deliver scams/fraud awareness talks across North East Lincolnshire. Funding from FraudWatch comes from the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner and allows Karl to deliver advice to groups/residents across NEL. Karl has now delivered over 60 talks over the past 4 years. If you have a group that needs a session, please contact Karl.

Fraudwatch (covering Humberside) has issued a few Trigger Alerts over the past few weeks:
Trigger Fraud Alert #40 Buying and Selling Pets online
Trigger Fraud Alert #41 AI Investment Fraud
Trigger Fraud Alert #42 Bogus websites operating as online pharmacies

“55 million suspicious emails reported by the public”– a good reminder about the importance of reporting scams

Some warnings about scams from ReportFraud(used to be ActionFraud)

“Warning for online shoppers after spike in criminals gaining unauthorised access to retailer accounts”

“Courier fraud alert: Over 70s targeted as courier fraud exceeds £21 million in 2025.”

“Fraud alert: Scam calls using ‘spoofed’ phone numbers”

Friends Against Scams. The App has now had a huge update. Download from Apps stores. Read all about the update here. Download the app and encourage others to do so as it’s full of useful advice and training to help us all be more aware of how to avoid scams.

Policing

Project Lifestyle is back. All the info is here. Share with families and young people you know.

New poster explaining the legalities of riding e-scooters. Share the poster/message with your networks.

Of interest: “PoliceAI – a new national centre to develop and scale artificial intelligence in policing.”

Local news

Cleethorpes 999 day returns. Sat 15th Aug, 10-4 on Kings Parade, Cleethorpes. Poster here.

NeeNaw day is back too. Sat 8th Aug, 10am. At Cromwell Road Police Station, Grimsby DN31 2BN. 

VANEL led Community Safety/Police drop-ins continue monthly in Sidney Sussex Ward at 82 Grimsby Road community hub. Next Tue 21st July, 11am-12 noon.

In South Ward/Nunsthorpe, the successful “Together for Tomorrow” community safety focused event is returning to Sutcliffe Avenue Recreation Ground on Fri 21st August. 10-2pm. More details in due course.