Management of Group
HRA Digital Communications Officer
(contact email: highfieldracomms@gmail.com)
Aims of Group
The Crime information sharing WhatsApp Group was set up by Highfield Residents’ Association in July 2020, for road and area representatives to share information on crime and anti-social behaviour incidents across the HRA boundary, in order to:
- raise awareness of crime in the Highfield area and encourage greater vigilance among local residents,
- increase the sharing of crime information across the area,
- encourage and improve reporting to the Police,
- reduce crime.
Functions of Group
The Group comprises 20 representatives of roads or areas, Portswood Ward Councillors and two Swaythling Councillors.
Road/area representatives:
· share crime and anti-social behaviour incidents from their own road/area with the Group, and
· report back incidents that are shared in the Group from elsewhere in the HRA boundary to their own communities, usually via local WhatsApp or email networks.
This is how the information gets shared across the area. This sharing of information has enabled trends in crime to be identified, communities to be alerted and preventative measures encouraged.
Terms of Use of Group
All area representatives joining the Group must first complete and return the Terms of Use here.
Participation in the WhatsApp Group is considered as consenting to the aforementioned Terms of Use and any updates posted in the Group.
Reporting procedures used in Group to report all anti-social behaviour and crime incidents, and ‘intelligence’ (however small)
Road/area representatives are asked to encourage reporting of all incidents in their area using the established Police and Southampton City Council reporting procedures (see in link below). This helps the Police to build up evidence of anti-social and criminal activity in Highfield and to see when, where and for how long to direct and/or increase their patrols. This also helps the Police to identify patterns of crime behaviour. This policy has been communicated to HRA by a Police Inspector for Southampton North. Reporting is, therefore, of great importance!
The group is NOT a substitute for reporting crime, and members are actively discouraged from taking the law into their own hands.
The established Police and Southampton City Council crime and anti-social behaviour reporting procedures are listed here: https://www.highfieldresidents.org.uk/reporting-a-crime-or-intelligence/
Log of all anti-social behaviour and crime incidents, together with associated information, shared in the Group
All crimes and anti-social behaviour incidents that are shared in the Group are logged here: https://www.highfieldresidents.org.uk/crime-incidents/
Members of Group
The group currently has representatives from the roads and areas listed below.
Anyone whose road or area is not yet represented and they would like it to be, should contact HRA on: highfieldracomms@gmail.com Equally, anyone who wishes to find out who their community representative on the WhatsApp Group is, should also contact HRA.
Participating roads and areas:
Brookvale Road
Church Lane
Crofton Close
Donnington Grove
Furzedown Road and also some residents of Hawthorn and Oakhurst Roads
Grosvenor Road
Highfield Close
Highfield Crescent
Highfield Lane (Upper)
Holyrood Avenue
Khartoum Road
Nile Road
Oakmount Triangle (includes Blenheim Ave, Leigh Rd, Westbourne Crescent, Oakmount Ave, 1-5 Highfield Road)
Omdurman Road
Portswood Residents’ Gardens (includes Abbotts Way, Russell Place, Lower Highfield Lane)
Shaftesbury Avenue (only the area of Shaftesbury Avenue between the junction of Highfield Crescent and Holyrood Avenue with Shaftesbury Avenue)
Uplands Way Estate (includes Uplands Way, Orchards Way and Glebe Court)
Welbeck Avenue (top of Welbeck to the Drummond Arms)
Westwood Court, Westwood Road (plus road and pathway in front)
Woodstock Drive.
Plus:
Councillors from Portswood and Swaythling Wards.
Police Liaison Meetings: https://www.highfieldresidents.org.uk/police-liaison-meetings/