Community Safety – North East Lincolnshire Neighbourhood Networking

We all play a part to make our communities safer places. Whilst the Police and statutory organisations have a key role in community safety, each of us can do our bit too. We can help our families, friends, neighbours and our wider communities and help look after ourselves, our possessions and properties and those who we connect to.

There’s so much information available, we’ve produced this ‘index’ to some of the key resources that are available.

In a rush? Jump to our Quick resources or onto our Detailed index.

Remember 999 in emergencies.
101 for other crimes and reporting
Crimestoppers 0800 555 111
Report via Police. Report Council related issues.

Community Safety can include:

– Personal safety – for yourself and others, at home or out and about
– Property protection – preventing burglary. Your home, your garden, shed or garage
– Your possessions – from insurance, to property marking – protecting everything from your phone, jewellery, bikes and more
– Scams and Fraud avoidance – anyone can be a victim of scams
– Anti-Social Behaviour – a major concern so what is it and what can you do about it?
– Reporting – understand how to report different issues
– Keep informed – where can you get useful and correct information to help with community safety
– Supporting networks – from Neighbourhood Watch to simple social networks. Supporting each other is invaluable
– Fire safety
– Emergency planning – from power cuts, to floods or more – how to be ready
– Environmental safety – keeping your street or area or community safe
– Society issues – domestic violence, terrorism, exploitation and more. Major issues that are uncommon but important to be aware of

And much more besides.

Quick Resources

Some immediate resources you can refer to or make use of:

My Community Alert – Police, Fire, Neighbourhood Watch and other partners use this to send timely and local information to anyone. Sign up for free updates. Details here

Stay Safe Guides – packed full of local advice and contacts about community safety. Online here or pick up copies from many community venues. Go here for the latest edition.

NELwatch – our own website full of community safety information. We even send out a regular ‘weeknotes’ email of information if you’re interested. www.nelwatch.org.uk

Humberside Police website includes details for every Neighbourhood Policing Team – who they are, where to meet them, what their priorities are for your own area. VANEL organise monthly community safety drop-ins in Cleethorpes at our offices. Police website here.
Report via the Police here.

Neighbourhood Watch. For North East Lincolnshire VANEL look after Neighbourhood Watch. Chat to VANEL about new groups and support.

The Little Book of Big Scams (download it direct here). Fraudwatch (for Humberside). Friends Against Scams. ReportFraud. All are resources with scam and fraud avoidance advice.

Don’t forget Humberside Fire and Rescue Services website. Crimestoppers. Affected by Crime service. Victim Support. All important resources.

Protecting your possessions

Good advice from “Secured by Design” about how to prevent thefts of your bikes or e-bikes. Advice on protecting your car from crime. And protect your motorcycle or scooter.
Flyer about car crime protection from Ourwatch.
Some Police advice on preventing car theft. If you have keyless entry, think about putting your key fob into a blocking pocket.
Use immobilise to log your possessions in case they are stolen. A UV pen can mark your possessions in case they are stolen.
Think about using a safe
Remember to keep your insurance adequate to cover your possessions properly. Make a list of all your more important or valuable possessions.
Mobile phones are at risk. Keep yours safe. Police advice about mobile phones here. And useful advice from Money Supermarket.

Scams and Fraud

Firstly remember that scams or fraud can be reported via 101. But contact your bank immediately should you be concerned. Dial 159 to get through to any bank if you can’t find your own bank’s number quickly.
Fraudwatch is a local initiative covering all of Humberside and here are a number of videos and resources on their website here – all worth a watch.
The Little Book of Big Scams is full of the types of scam you should know about and learn how to avoid. But there are many other ‘little guides’ on specific types of fraud and scam you can also check out.
Anyone can be a Friend Against Scams, and if you want to learn how to protect yourself (and maybe tell others too), then visit their website and become a Friend Against Scams. They also have a scams app worth downloading.
Which? has a regular e-newsletter with top tips on recent or active scams.
If you are hit with a scam – report it to ReportFraud (used to be Action Fraud) 0300 123 2040.
Stay Safe Online with Get Safe Online
Advice from Humberside Police on avoiding fraud
VANEL delivers scams and fraud awareness talks – if you’ve got a group and would like a talk, please contact us.
Take Five to Stop Fraud is a campaign supported with useful online information and resources.
The Government Stop Think Fraud campaign has some useful resources here.
The National Cyber Security Centre includes lots of advicespecifically for individuals and families.
Contact Humberside Victim Support if you’ve been affected by a scam.
Identity fraud can be avoided by shredding your documents. There are a number of community shredders around NEL.
VANEL also assembled a simple overview of scams/fraud advice. Read it online here (or pick up a copy of our Stay Safe guides).
If you personally connect to any social groups or support agencies (such as AgeUK) then talk to group leaders or their team about the advice and support they can give or signpost you to around avoiding scams/fraud.
To avoid doorstep fraud, VANEL has a supply of ‘no cold caller’ window stickers.
Scam emails can be forwarded to report@phishing.gov.uk to report them.
Scam texts can be forwarded to 7726 (spells SPAM)
Whichever bank you are with, there will be advice and information about scams/fraud avoidance on their website. Take a look.
Ask Silver is a powerful AI scam checker that you can use to check out if something is a scam or not.
Think carefully before responding to anything that is out of the blue; says it it urgent; that you’re not expecting or that gets you concerned. Take 5 reminds us all to take 5 minutes (at least) before responding and to try and get some independent advice.
Any of us can be a victim of a scam at any time. Think about how you’ll respond or double-check something before it happens to you!

Anti-Social Behaviour

NELC has information about what ASB is. And you can report it to NELC via their portal.
Some things are not ASB – they are nuisance instead.
In NEL there are a number of PSPOs (Public Space Protection Orders) which help tackle ASB issues.
If things go wrong when tackling ASB, the Case Review is the method for escalation.
Lots of information is on the national support website for ASB Help.
Ourwatch also describes ASB and has a sheet for recording incidents.
Humberside Police of course has plenty of information about ASB here. Especially what is it? and how to report it (use the Police reporting form here).
If you are concerned then look at the Victim Support ASB page here. They also have a leaflet here about ASB.
There is also the Affected by Crime service for advice.

Reporting

Emergencies 999.
Less urgent 101.
Humberside Police have a report page explaining how to report many things.
And you can report a crime direct to the Police through their website here which will take you through step by step.
Use the Police Reporting section to decide what needs reporting and follow the links. For example ASB reporting is here.
For many things that are not crimes, the Council is the place to Report it. NELC has an entire section for reporting issues. You’ll need to register for an account on nelincs.gov.uk first.
You can also report Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) through the Council (here) as the team dealing with ASB is within the Council. In North East Lincolnshire the Council and the Police coordinate ASB work closely.
Nationally the Police have a central website about reporting crime. This can route you through to the local Policing team too.
Crimestoppers for anonymous reporting. 0800 555 111
Firestoppers is similar for reporting fires. 0800 169 5558
Remember that other issues might be the responsibility for example of your landlord and should be reported directly to them. Or you might be able to report issues to your Town Council, Parish Council or Ward Councillors.
Online services exist to report different issues such as potholes or flytipping or broken streetlights. For example; FixMyStreet. Usually these get reported to the right authorities but you might prefer to contact them direct.
For reporting scams or fraud, see our section on Scams.

Keep informed

Sign up for My Community Alert. This is the Humberside specific part of the national Neighbourhood Alerts system. Get localised email alerts for where you live. All free and you have full control of what you receive (Police, Fire, Neighbourhood Watch, Fraud Alerts etc).
VANEL produce a e-news bulletin every week or two (called ‘weeknotes’) which is full of local community safety related news, advice and information. See the archive online here or sign up here.
Follow local news feeds for community safety advice. Mainly the Humberside Police news; NELC news; Police and Crime Commissioner news; Humberside Fire and Rescue news. Or if you are on Facebook find local organisations with information useful to you.
Follow your Neighbourhood Policing team for where you live. Attend their drop-ins or events.
Speak to your local Ward Councillors where you live.
Follow our website www.nelwatch.org.uk for local community safety information.
Pick up leaflets and flyers from one of the Neighbourhood Watch Information Hubs.
Attend local events; attend local community centres; join local social groups; talk to others. The more you connect and ask questions together, the more likely you are to keep up to date with information. Follow your local Town or Parish Council or Ward Forum; read local newsletters.

Networks

Connecting with other people through networks can help both with peace of mind but also with finding advice or support.
Neighbourhood Watch is the recognised national approach to bringing people together to tackle crime and community safety locally.
In North East Lincolnshire VANEL oversees Neighbourhood Watch – see our NELwatch website for information or contact us. Nationally Ourwatch is the National Network for Neighbourhood Watch. Across Humberside, Humberwatch shares good practice around Neighbourhood Watch.
If you’d like to start or join a Neighbourhood Watch group, start here.
Other social groups are also invaluable. Wherever you are there will be groups to join. From U3A to local organisations like Friendship at Home – all run social groups. Check out your local community venue. Use Simply Connect to find all kinds of support and groups.
VANEL’s Neighbours Together website contains lots of information about local groups you can connect to.
Talk to others, or talk to leaders of groups – they should all be able to refer you to useful sources of advice or support.
Pop into your local community centre. Chances are there is information there about various community safety issues. VANEL maintains a number of Community Safety/Neighbourhood Watch Information hubs at venues around the area where you can pick up a leaflet or two.

Fire safety

Lots of fire safety advice on the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) website.
Download a copy of their Home Fire Safety booklet.
You can also look into booking a home fire safety visit here (only the most vulnerable will be visited but everyone can get advice).
Report fires anonymously via Firestoppers 0800 169 5558.
Nationally a resource for younger people about staying safe can be found on the Staywise website.

Emergency planning

Do your thinking and preparation before an emergency occurs:
Download the ‘Get ready for the unexpected’ guide from the Humber Local Resilience Forum
Emergency planning from British Red Cross.
Ensure you are ready for national Emergency Alerts.
If you’re hard of hearing/deaf then get set up for Emergency SMS via the Relay system.
Be Weather Ready for all kinds of conditions.
Understand how to prepare for floods and flooding. Especially, sign up for flood alerts.
Prepare for Power cuts.
Even think about how to prepare for a terrorist attack.
More about local emergency planning on NELC website here including more local flooding advice.

Environmental safety

Flytipping affects any area. Learn more and report local flytippingvia NELC. 01472 326300.
Other concerns about how your local neighbourhood looks – see NELC website.
Perhaps get some good ideas from Keep Britain Tidy. Maybe connect with others in your local area to Litter Pick or support in some other way.

Society issues

Thankfully Terrorism is rare. But here’s local, important advice from Humberside Police to read. More specifically here’s advice on staying safe from terrorism and a video worth watching. NELC has a wide range of information and advice about all aspects of understanding and helping to prevent terrorism.
Modern Slavery is also unfortunately very real. There’s lots of information about this here from the Police, but importantly here’s advice from the Council on how to recognise exploitation(including a video), including links to the Modern Slavery websitewhere you can report it.
NELC has useful and important information about Stalking and Harassment on their website here.
The North East Lincolnshire Domestic Abuse Service has a wide range of important advice, information and help lines on their webpage here.
Humberside Police have resources about Hate Crime on their website here. Including details on reporting Hate Crime through various routes including the local hate crime reporting centres.
Serious Violence includes VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) and Weapons crime. NELC has a wide range of useful resources on their website here.

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This page has been prepared by VANEL and NELwatch as part of our partnership working on community safety. Links to external sites were correct when published here but information can go out of date or may be incorrect, so we’ve made our best efforts to keep this guide up to date. Any problems with anything on this page please contact us.

VANEL is working as part of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) to improve community cohesion across North East Lincolnshire through provision of community safety information.

Page history:
18mar: added reference to Streetsafe tool and to community shredders
4mar26: new community safety directory page launched. blog.