About Us-old

We are the Rodney District of Neighbourhood Support NZ and cover the following communities:

Neighbourhood Support (NS) for you, is all about knowing who your neighbours are & being there for them in times of need as they would be for you.  It is about knowing how to contact each other should you need help or advice.  NS strengthens community spirit, minimises crime, enables people to share information, ideas & insights & helps us support each other in times of need.  NS aims to make our homes, streets, neighbourhoods & communities a safer & more caring places in which to live. 

A Neighbourhood Support Group will:

• Encourage neighbours to talk to each other.
  Share information that will help reduce the risk and fear of crime.
• Help foster a sense of community spirit, where everyone is respected & valued.
• Educate & empower neighbours to take responsibility for their own safety.
• Identify the needs of neighbours & ways to assist each other.
• Identify the strengths & skills of neighbours to contribute to solving local problems.
• Minimise burglaries & car crime in the local area.
• Reduce graffiti, vandalism, violence & disorder.
• Support victims of crime.
• Enhance the safety features & appearance of the neighbourhood.
• Decide on ways to handle any civil emergencies that may occur.
• Know when & how to contact Police, other emergency services or support agencies.
• Liaise and co-operate with other community groups Joining Neighbourhood Support.

Working together, our community Constable & our NS District Coordinator, are kept constantly updated on crime trends & safety information through our Community Alerts & the NS network.  this information is forwarded to all members.

Members also receive a household pack that is filled with all sorts of useful information sheets as well as stickers & a street sign.  Helping to ensure you are aware of  all the avenues you can take to keep safe & informed with lists of all the local emergency numbers.  Members also receive a monthly  newsletter & can join our facebook group for regular notices.

People can join as an individual household or they can start an NS street group.  Being a street coordinator you get familiar with your neighbours and help keep your street safe as a team.

Remember, at no time should you put yourself at risk.  If you consider the situation to be serious & it needs immediate attention DIAL 111. This includes seeing an intruder on your property.

Our Objectives

Neighbourhood Support aims to make homes, streets and communities safer and more caring places in which to live. This is primarily achieved through the establishment of small cells of households known as a “Neighbourhood Support Group”, comprising anywhere from 4 to 50 residential households in a single street or suburb. Groups throughout a single suburb or a wider town or city area are co-ordinated either via a civilian co-ordinator, or through a Community Constable based at a local Police station.

The main purpose of the groups is to encourage neighbours to know one another and share information on crime or suspicious activities in their area. Early contact with authorities such as the Police is also encouraged for reporting of unusual observations or unacceptable behaviour. Crime prevention information can also be shared with group members via Community Constables, or Neighbourhood Support Area Co-ordinators.

A secondary objective of Neighbourhood Support is to facilitate communication between Civil Defence (Emergency Management) and the community during a manmade or natural disaster affecting residents.

Our History

Neighbourhood Support is an international non-profit organisation it was started by the New York City Police in 1977 in response to rising crime.
Originally called “Neighbourhood Watch”, the collaboration between police and community leaders as a crime prevention initiative was so successful that it spread rapidly to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand in the late 70s. In the 1990s the movement was renamed to Neighbourhood Support to better reflect the work that we do in New Zealand communities.
The initiative evolved to become Neighbourhood Support New Zealand, a community owned and managed organization with a wide-ranging interest in community support, safety and crime prevention. Neighbourhood Support became an Incorporated Society in 2000. In 2001 it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the New Zealand Police. The purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding is to establish and promote a collaborative working relationship between Neighbourhood Support New Zealand Incorporated and the Police.

Neighbourhood Support Rodney was established and became an Incorporated Society in 2008. Margaret Faed has been our District Co-Ordinator since 2014 having employed a number of assistant Co-Ordinators over the years as the membership has grown and the work-load increased where we are now working more closely with Community Resilient Groups.

Early in July 2019 Neighbourhood Support ushered in a new chapter with the launch of a new logo at its National Conference. The logo depicts a diverse group of people and features a koru pattern which reflects the important place of Taha Māori in NZ. The multiple colours of the logo were adopted to represent inclusive communities where everyone is welcome and belongs, while the blue colour represents our ongoing partnership with the New Zealand Police.

Today we are based in the Matakana Community Policing Centre. We cover the Rodney policing districts of Mangawahi, Wellsford, Warkworth, Helensville, Orewa, Warkworth and Kumeu. We have the largest district in Waitemata by land mass but not by population since a large portion of our district is rural. Being mostly rural, we have some absolutely stunning landscapes, beaches and views, and truly love where we live. You can see how beautiful our District is with the slide show in our header. Please take just one minute out of your schedule and hit the up arrow on the bottom right and watch our header slide show, you will see how beautiful Rodney District is.

Take Pakiri Beach for example, locals will agree that is an East Coast parallel of the West Coasts Muriwai Beach, that goes up the West Coast for miles. You can go do your shopping in Kumeu, and if the tide is right, take a left turn off to Muriwai and drive up the beach on your way home. Get off at Woodhill Forest, come out Rimer Rd and head home to Parakai! On the way home, you get to check out whats going on at the West Coast, see the odd seal on the beach taking some time out and you can pull up the car and take a walk over the dunes to let the dogs go for a run and a sniff through the outskirts of Woodhill Forest. What a place to live!

You can read more about the history of Neighbourhood Support in New Zealand on Wikipedia.

Sponsors

We would like to acknowledge our Sponsors. Auckland Council, Hibiscus & Bays Local Council, The Lottery Grants Board, Toyota North Shore & The NZ Police. We Thank them for their continued support.