Key Persons are volunteers, unpaid, and provide an informal link between the local Police and residents. They are NOT vigilantes nor are they curtain twitchers watching to see what may be going on. They just carry a stage further that ‘keeping a eye out for neighbours' spirit which many of us do without really thinking about it perhaps. There are no formal duties but what is asked of them is that if in the course of their daily routines, they see something that appears odd or not as one would expect, they do not ignore it but immediately pass on their concerns to the Area Co-Ordinator or to the local Police. Typically this could be a strange vehicle parked in an unusual place or two men in an unmarked van going to the house of an elderly person  living alone. They endeavour to keep residents mindful of the simple measures which can aid security of person and property, especially those that are particularly vulnerable.

New persons are visited, given literature and details of the Watch and encouraged to make their own contribution to our mutual security. From time to time, the Police may notify Area Co-Ordinators of items which they consider are of special concern such as a suspicious vehicle or an emerging pattern of crime. This information will be passed to the Key Persons who, in turn, will pass it on to their neighbours. Thus in a short time people are alerted. This passage of information works both ways as the Police on occasions will ask the public to help them by watching out for and then reporting sightings of certain individuals, vehicles etc. Anyone witnessing incidents that relate to these requests should pass the information immediately to the Police and not back through the Neighbour Watch chain.

Crime is often of an opportunist nature and the fact that there is a Neighbourhood Watch  scheme operating may be sufficient to deter the would-be criminal. We are policed locally from Stockbridge and our local Beat Officer is P.C. Bill Williams who is responsible for our and several other local villages. The main Police Station in Andover is manned 24 hours a day and the telephone number is 01264 33511.

The Police ask that all incidents are reported immediately and the following numbers should be used:-

Dial 999
For matters of an urgent nature.

Dial 0845 045 45 45
For less urgent matters (a message can be left on this number for our Beat Officer).

Dial 101
To obtain security advice and action on safety and anti-social behaviour

WARNING: It has been announced that the funding for 101 is to be stopped or reduced in the near future. An update will be published here when that happens.

P.C. Bill Williams can also be contacted by e-mail at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Because of the rural nature of our area, should you contact the Police or any of the emergency services, any directions you can give that will pinpoint the location will be of great help to those responding to the call. References to a pub or significant landmark are typical examples.

For your own house, make sure the house name/number is clearly visible from the road and particularly at night. This is especially important where the property is concealed from the road or house numbers do not follow a logical sequence. Emergency services responding to 999 calls will, more often than not, be strangers to our area and precious time could be wasted trying to locate a property.