He said Neighbourhood Support had close relationships with the police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, and Bay of Plenty Civil Defence.
About 14,500 people were members of Neighbourhood Support groups across the Western Bay. Coverage areas included Tauranga, Tauranga South, Mount Maunganui, Pāpāmoa and Te Puke.
Pāpāmoa had almost 6000 member households and 170 street co-ordinators, but there were areas with no street coverage.
Banks said he started as a street co-ordinator for Rainey Cres in 2014, after he and wife Katrina moved from Auckland.
Pāpāmoa’s population then was only 24,000.
“Now we are nearing 40,000 households in Pāpāmoa, and the Neighbourhood Support co-ordination work is still expected to be done by one person. That’s me. That’s now impossible.
“We also still look after our Neighbourhood Support group in our street, Blanche Rd and Tremough Boulevard. There are 98 houses in our cluster.”
Pāpāmoa Neighbourhood Support co-ordinator Bruce Banks. Photo / NZME
Banks said he needed more volunteer help, including street co-ordinators to help build the membership, especially in the newer streets of Pāpāmoa East, where there is no coverage.
More members and volunteers would mean more reach and sharing of information, and more effective crime prevention.
Knowing your neighbours provides security and “added back-up” when something goes wrong.
“That’s worth megabucks in making our communities safer and more caring places to live.”
Banks said he and Pāpāmoa Police community Senior Constable Adrian Oldham held “whistle-stop, 30-minute driveway meetings” with new volunteer street co-ordinators, and all their neighbours were invited.
“Once people form a Neighbour Support [NS] group, they’re given stickers for their windows and letterboxes, and an NS warning sign is posted on lampposts in the street.
“I’m sure having these plastered up and down the street acts as a strong deterrent to criminals.”
Banks said there was also a great social benefit to becoming a member, including members having Christmas parties and street barbecues.
“It’s a fantastic way to get to know other people and to make new friends.”
Pāpāmoa Community Constable Adrian Oldham. Photo / Brydie Thompson
Oldham said growing Neighbourhood Support membership made perfect sense, from both crime prevention and community support perspectives.
He said some people may be wary about joining for privacy reasons.
“It’s not about living in each other’s pockets, but being connected, and if something does happen and it needs police intervention, we will have a Neighbour Support point of contact in the street.”
Oldham said his neighbours looked out for each other, and he recalled a particular incident where that connectedness came to the fore.
When a car was broken into, a “daisy chain” of calls between neighbours in the street eventually turned up someone with security camera footage.
“That person wasn’t aware that anything had happened, but from the footage they managed to get a car registration plate from the offending vehicle and saw the offenders going from house to house.”
Western Bay of Plenty Neighbourhood chairwoman Kathy Webb said knowing your neighbours was key when a crisis or crime occurred, as they may be the closest person who could help you out.
“Or at very least be there if you need to borrow a cup of sugar or need a friendly ear.
“Neighbourhood Support is about connectedness alongside crime prevention,” she said.
To get involved, email Bruce Banks at nspapamoa@wbopns.org.nz or visit the organisation’s website.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.