Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know a funding boost for Neighborhood Watch INT
(00:03):
is set to expand crime prevention programs and strengthen community safety.
The COLP government stumping up two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for the group to focus on community engagement and
public awareness campaigns to reduce opportunistic crime. Joining us on
the line is Neighborhood Watch nt CEO Veronica Larson. Good morning, Veronica,
(00:27):
Good morning Veronica. What exactly is the funding going to
go towards?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yep? The COLP the government has funded us for the
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, just like you said,
and those funds are going to hire two civilian event
an outreach coordinator that will help put on events throughout
the territory, community events that are family friendly with safe
environments for anyone to attend, as well as increasing our
(00:57):
outreach to get the free tool that we have created
with Neighborhood Watch around preventive safety information out into the
hands of the folks in the territory.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So can you tell us a little bit more about
what those programs are and what exactly to you know
to those who've maybe never been to Neighborhood Watch or
haven't dealt with you guys, what exactly it is that
you do?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure well. We focus on education, safety, education and prevention
as well as community connection, so we have a range
of things that we provide, such as community events that
go from neighborhood watch for kids events so we give
families and kids something to do constructively and expensively during
(01:42):
the school holidays, over to holding stalls to hand out
additional tools and resources to folks of all ages to
keep them safe. We have different materials that have been
developed over time to assist people and now we have
them online and intangible formats. For example. Those kinds of
(02:04):
things include how Safe is My Place which is a
home security self assessment and it kind of walks you
through the process online and determines where you might have
areas that need increase safety or security, and it gives
you an email that spits out and identifies the places
that you should maybe focused your energies around. We also
(02:26):
have interactive platforms online for kids to learn how to
navigate the community independently, Absent advice forms for people to
fill out when they're going away, so first responders have
an idea of how you would like to be contacted,
or if you're next of can or your emergency contact
should be reached in case of that emergency. So it's
(02:48):
just a wide variety of any preventative safety information we
can get out there.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And Veronica in terms of because I know there've been
some discussion about personal protection sessions, some confusion about whether
that's like self defense. What exactly are the personal protection sessions?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, thank you so much for asking. I think there
is a bit of misinformation out there, so I would
really like to give some information behind that and the
difference of the two. The self defense is not something
that we teach, and we do not hire people to
cheap self defense. We host personal safety sessions and have
(03:26):
done so for over six years, helping over fifteen hundred territorians.
We work with one facilitator who has thirty five years
experience facilitating safety sessions. Within those three and a half
hour sessions that we put on, we're talking about things
like de escalation techniques, layering safety strategies, how do you
(03:48):
create distance between you yourself and a threat in order
to get away to safety? Should you be approached? All
kinds of tools about when you're living alone, what kind
of alarms you can pick up from funning just a
plethora of information. The idea is we want to provide
tools that any Territorian can implement easily and expensively in
(04:15):
their daily routines that lessen their chances of becoming victims
the opportunity at crime. And that's to formulate also scenario
specific plans to get away from any threatening situation should
it occur.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Look, it sounds to me, that sounds like a really
positive thing that somebody could do, particularly and you know,
I'm not trying to stereotype in any way, but particularly
maybe a more senior Territorian who might want to, you know,
to look at different ways that they could potentially feel
safer if they, you know, if they're wanting to continue
to go out on the evening walk and things like that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Thank you for bringing that up. And again, yeah, we
have car, public transport, home and community safety and these
are all aspects of the Personal Safety Sessions. The goal
of the sessions is to recognize danger before it's on
our doorsteps and to mitigate the risks to our personal safety.
So this is about avoidance tactics. This is about being
(05:10):
aware of your surroundings, whether you're driving into a car
park or going into a mall, or leaving your car
and attended with your personally see all the things that
we don't. You know, we want to make sure we're
not doing to make ourselves more vulnerable to this opportunistic crime.
It's really the misinformation is a bit disheartening we have
(05:34):
that we're hearing. We invite anyone with concerns and questions
to get a hold of Neighborhood Watch, attend any of
our events and experience the culture of positivity and support
behind the work we do, whether that's seeing the information,
the safety information that we're creating, the way that we
(05:55):
get it to people, the links that we'll go to
to provide that to people in any area of the territory.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
How how can people find out more and how can
I access some of those resources or potentially be part
of some of those personal protection sessions if they can sure?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
They simply need to visit our website at n h
W n T dot org dot au. We have different
memberships available, all are free there. They can simply sign
up to follow us on social. They can sign up
to receive our quarterly newsletter which do include crime statistics,
upcoming events information, that might be territory relevance to them.
(06:39):
It's if we want people to see it all, we
want them to experience the passion that we have to
keep people safe. You know, we're an inclusive organization. We're
not pointing fingers at who, who what what? An attacker
could be somebody looking forward to opportunities that crimes could
(07:00):
be or could look like. It can be anyone at
any time. And again, the idea is avoidance and understanding
how to stay different things before they happen.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So she touched on even like the personal alarms and
things like that. You know, like we've spoken before on
the show to women in our springs who we're raising
money to be able to go and buy themselves, you know,
those personal alarms. I think that everybody wants to try
and avoid those situations. So I certainly understand that it's
not you got that Neighborhood Watch aren't putting on self
(07:31):
defense classes in terms of the two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, Like, how far is this going to go
for you guys? What does it mean the Neighborhood Watching
the Northern Territory more broadly?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Sure, well, we'll hiing being able to hire two events
and outreach coordinators. That is essentially going to allow us
to double what we've been able to do with the
resourcing that we have in the last year, because as
prices go up, we can't do as much. Forced to
be a little bit more creative with how we're getting
(08:03):
the information out to everyone and how visible and available
we can be to people, and we still want to
make sure we're doing a lot of face to face
outreach for people because that seems to be the number
one way that people prefer in the territory. You know,
we still know that one and four territorians report feeling lonely,
so that community connection and connecting neighborhoods is still really important.
(08:25):
Not only do they automatically look out for you and
create stronger community engagement. It's good for us. Yeah, it's
a good great.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, well, this is the thing. And people, you know,
like even keeping an eye out for each other, looking
out for each other, as you touched on early on
in the piece, you know, even making sure that you
jump on the portal if you're going away, so that
then should something happen at your home, police are aware
that you are actually away. And you know, all these
bits and pieces can help and the community vigilance in
(08:56):
terms of just keeping an eye out for each other.
It makes a big difference.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It does, It really does, And thanks for that, Katie.
We're just a positive organization trying to increase the security
and the way people feel throughout the territory. The idea
that neighborhood watch and are preventive safety events are somehow
promoting vigilantism is perpost, right, Yeah, it's absolutely not what's
(09:23):
happening in any way.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, and I know that you know, we've interviewed you before, Veronica,
and we've certainly spoken to neighborhood Watching the past before,
and I know that the work that you guys do
is certainly not that. It is very much a situation
of trying to help people really, you know, to work
out different ways that they can ensure that they you know,
(09:46):
that they that they are safe as best that you can,
and to try to keep your house secure and try
to you know, to take some of those preventative measures
to to you know, I can't think of a better word,
but to not leave yourself as a sitting duck.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That's exactly right. And you know this extends to kids
our vulnerable seniors. We try and get out there and
really target different people in different areas with different needs,
so everyone can be across what they can do individually
and per their circumstances or geographical location within the territory.
(10:23):
So just and we're always looking for great feedback. But again,
anybody with questions or concerns or being led to led
to decisions making decisions about Neighborhood Watch that are clearly
based on the misinformation being out there, I highly encourage
and would welcome them to reach out to me directly
(10:43):
to Neighborhood Watch, to join us at any events you know,
or put a question out there to the fifteen hundred
territory ins that have attended our personal safety sessions and
how it's changed their lives. We know that one hundred
percent of the attendees are reported that they would they
would be leaving our personal Safety sessions and telling other
people how great it was and to please come and
(11:05):
please enjoy it. Well, we're really proud of that.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
That is good to hear. Look, I really appreciate your
time this morning. Thank you very much for having a
chat with us and letting people know more about Neighborhood
watch now. Anyone listening this morning that easy. Indeed, keen
to come along and maybe get to one of those
personal protection sessions or to utilize some of those online
tools and other tools that Neighborhood Watch to provide. What's
(11:30):
the best way for them to do that.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Absolutely, definitely follow us on social and click on our
membership link again n HWNT dot org dot eu to
sign up, so get that quarterly newsletter so you don't
miss anything. It can be across at all, or you
can certainly give us a call at our mainline number
zero four three seven nine nine four six three one.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Veronica. Good to speak with you this morning. Thank you
so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Thank you for inviting me, Katie.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Thank you
Now we know a funding boost for Neighborhood Watch INT
(00:03):
is set to expand crime prevention programs and strengthen community safety.
The COLP government stumping up two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars for the group to focus on community engagement and
public awareness campaigns to reduce opportunistic crime. Joining us on
the line is Neighborhood Watch nt CEO Veronica Larson. Good morning, Veronica,
(00:27):
Good morning Veronica. What exactly is the funding going to
go towards?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yep? The COLP the government has funded us for the
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, just like you said,
and those funds are going to hire two civilian event
an outreach coordinator that will help put on events throughout
the territory, community events that are family friendly with safe
environments for anyone to attend, as well as increasing our
(00:57):
outreach to get the free tool that we have created
with Neighborhood Watch around preventive safety information out into the
hands of the folks in the territory.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So can you tell us a little bit more about
what those programs are and what exactly to you know
to those who've maybe never been to Neighborhood Watch or
haven't dealt with you guys, what exactly it is that
you do?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Sure well. We focus on education, safety, education and prevention
as well as community connection, so we have a range
of things that we provide, such as community events that
go from neighborhood watch for kids events so we give
families and kids something to do constructively and expensively during
(01:42):
the school holidays, over to holding stalls to hand out
additional tools and resources to folks of all ages to
keep them safe. We have different materials that have been
developed over time to assist people and now we have
them online and intangible formats. For example. Those kinds of
(02:04):
things include how Safe is My Place which is a
home security self assessment and it kind of walks you
through the process online and determines where you might have
areas that need increase safety or security, and it gives
you an email that spits out and identifies the places
that you should maybe focused your energies around. We also
(02:26):
have interactive platforms online for kids to learn how to
navigate the community independently, Absent advice forms for people to
fill out when they're going away, so first responders have
an idea of how you would like to be contacted,
or if you're next of can or your emergency contact
should be reached in case of that emergency. So it's
(02:48):
just a wide variety of any preventative safety information we
can get out there.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
And Veronica in terms of because I know there've been
some discussion about personal protection sessions, some confusion about whether
that's like self defense. What exactly are the personal protection sessions?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, thank you so much for asking. I think there
is a bit of misinformation out there, so I would
really like to give some information behind that and the
difference of the two. The self defense is not something
that we teach, and we do not hire people to
cheap self defense. We host personal safety sessions and have
(03:26):
done so for over six years, helping over fifteen hundred territorians.
We work with one facilitator who has thirty five years
experience facilitating safety sessions. Within those three and a half
hour sessions that we put on, we're talking about things
like de escalation techniques, layering safety strategies, how do you
(03:48):
create distance between you yourself and a threat in order
to get away to safety? Should you be approached? All
kinds of tools about when you're living alone, what kind
of alarms you can pick up from funning just a
plethora of information. The idea is we want to provide
tools that any Territorian can implement easily and expensively in
(04:15):
their daily routines that lessen their chances of becoming victims
the opportunity at crime. And that's to formulate also scenario
specific plans to get away from any threatening situation should
it occur.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Look, it sounds to me, that sounds like a really
positive thing that somebody could do, particularly and you know,
I'm not trying to stereotype in any way, but particularly
maybe a more senior Territorian who might want to, you know,
to look at different ways that they could potentially feel
safer if they, you know, if they're wanting to continue
to go out on the evening walk and things like that.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Thank you for bringing that up. And again, yeah, we
have car, public transport, home and community safety and these
are all aspects of the Personal Safety Sessions. The goal
of the sessions is to recognize danger before it's on
our doorsteps and to mitigate the risks to our personal safety.
So this is about avoidance tactics. This is about being
(05:10):
aware of your surroundings, whether you're driving into a car
park or going into a mall, or leaving your car
and attended with your personally see all the things that
we don't. You know, we want to make sure we're
not doing to make ourselves more vulnerable to this opportunistic crime.
It's really the misinformation is a bit disheartening we have
(05:34):
that we're hearing. We invite anyone with concerns and questions
to get a hold of Neighborhood Watch, attend any of
our events and experience the culture of positivity and support
behind the work we do, whether that's seeing the information,
the safety information that we're creating, the way that we
(05:55):
get it to people, the links that we'll go to
to provide that to people in any area of the territory.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
How how can people find out more and how can
I access some of those resources or potentially be part
of some of those personal protection sessions if they can sure?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
They simply need to visit our website at n h
W n T dot org dot au. We have different
memberships available, all are free there. They can simply sign
up to follow us on social. They can sign up
to receive our quarterly newsletter which do include crime statistics,
upcoming events information, that might be territory relevance to them.
(06:39):
It's if we want people to see it all, we
want them to experience the passion that we have to
keep people safe. You know, we're an inclusive organization. We're
not pointing fingers at who, who what what? An attacker
could be somebody looking forward to opportunities that crimes could
(07:00):
be or could look like. It can be anyone at
any time. And again, the idea is avoidance and understanding
how to stay different things before they happen.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So she touched on even like the personal alarms and
things like that. You know, like we've spoken before on
the show to women in our springs who we're raising
money to be able to go and buy themselves, you know,
those personal alarms. I think that everybody wants to try
and avoid those situations. So I certainly understand that it's
not you got that Neighborhood Watch aren't putting on self
(07:31):
defense classes in terms of the two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, Like, how far is this going to go
for you guys? What does it mean the Neighborhood Watching
the Northern Territory more broadly?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Sure, well, we'll hiing being able to hire two events
and outreach coordinators. That is essentially going to allow us
to double what we've been able to do with the
resourcing that we have in the last year, because as
prices go up, we can't do as much. Forced to
be a little bit more creative with how we're getting
(08:03):
the information out to everyone and how visible and available
we can be to people, and we still want to
make sure we're doing a lot of face to face
outreach for people because that seems to be the number
one way that people prefer in the territory. You know,
we still know that one and four territorians report feeling lonely,
so that community connection and connecting neighborhoods is still really important.
(08:25):
Not only do they automatically look out for you and
create stronger community engagement. It's good for us. Yeah, it's
a good great.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, well, this is the thing. And people, you know,
like even keeping an eye out for each other, looking
out for each other, as you touched on early on
in the piece, you know, even making sure that you
jump on the portal if you're going away, so that
then should something happen at your home, police are aware
that you are actually away. And you know, all these
bits and pieces can help and the community vigilance in
(08:56):
terms of just keeping an eye out for each other.
It makes a big difference.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It does, It really does, And thanks for that, Katie.
We're just a positive organization trying to increase the security
and the way people feel throughout the territory. The idea
that neighborhood watch and are preventive safety events are somehow
promoting vigilantism is perpost, right, Yeah, it's absolutely not what's
(09:23):
happening in any way.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Well, and I know that you know, we've interviewed you before, Veronica,
and we've certainly spoken to neighborhood Watching the past before,
and I know that the work that you guys do
is certainly not that. It is very much a situation
of trying to help people really, you know, to work
out different ways that they can ensure that they you know,
(09:46):
that they that they are safe as best that you can,
and to try to keep your house secure and try
to you know, to take some of those preventative measures
to to you know, I can't think of a better word,
but to not leave yourself as a sitting duck.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That's exactly right. And you know this extends to kids
our vulnerable seniors. We try and get out there and
really target different people in different areas with different needs,
so everyone can be across what they can do individually
and per their circumstances or geographical location within the territory.
(10:23):
So just and we're always looking for great feedback. But again,
anybody with questions or concerns or being led to led
to decisions making decisions about Neighborhood Watch that are clearly
based on the misinformation being out there, I highly encourage
and would welcome them to reach out to me directly
(10:43):
to Neighborhood Watch, to join us at any events you know,
or put a question out there to the fifteen hundred
territory ins that have attended our personal safety sessions and
how it's changed their lives. We know that one hundred
percent of the attendees are reported that they would they
would be leaving our personal Safety sessions and telling other
people how great it was and to please come and
(11:05):
please enjoy it. Well, we're really proud of that.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
That is good to hear. Look, I really appreciate your
time this morning. Thank you very much for having a
chat with us and letting people know more about Neighborhood
watch now. Anyone listening this morning that easy. Indeed, keen
to come along and maybe get to one of those
personal protection sessions or to utilize some of those online
tools and other tools that Neighborhood Watch to provide. What's
(11:30):
the best way for them to do that.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Absolutely, definitely follow us on social and click on our
membership link again n HWNT dot org dot eu to
sign up, so get that quarterly newsletter so you don't
miss anything. It can be across at all, or you
can certainly give us a call at our mainline number
zero four three seven nine nine four six three one.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Veronica. Good to speak with you this morning. Thank you
so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Thank you for inviting me, Katie.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Thank you
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