View from the hill: Harrow is seeking “Neighbourhood Champions” who will report anti-social behaviour using a special website
Posted on 11/11/2009 7:29:59 AM PST by opentalk
A London council is recruiting 2,000 residents to report on their neighbours and join a growing network of “citizen snoopers” in the capital.
“Neighbourhood Champions” will be expected to pass on evidence of graffiti, fly-tipping, litter and excessive noise.
They could eventually be trained to report child abuse, domestic violence, racial harassment and other “hate crimes”.
The plan is expected to be approved this week in Harrow. The council says the scheme, which has the backing of the Met commander for the borough, will increase pride in the community.
But critics today raised fears over civil liberties, warning that it is the latest example of a surveillance society.
Susie Squires, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: “Community spirit and looking out for your neighbours is one thing, but snooping is another. Residents are already able to report nuisances as part of normal procedure. Taxpayers are sick and tired of being spied on. This creates distrust.”
Harrow is the latest London borough to ask residents to report bad behaviour. Islington has been running an environmental watchdog scheme since 2002 — with up to 1,200 recruits including children. Hillingdon claims to have 4,800 volunteers.
Harrow's volunteers will log on to a special website to report suspicions. Details will be passed to council departments and enforcement action could be taken against offenders. Participants will be vetted and trained with the help of the police and council. Councillor Susan Hall, Harrow's spokeswoman for environment services and community safety, said: “This is about extending more influence to our residents to help us deliver cleaner and safer streets.
“We have already invested in anti-social behaviour and cleaning teams, but the reality is that we are not always in a position to know when problems suddenly crop up.
(Excerpt) Read more at thisislondon.co.uk ...
View from the hill: Harrow is seeking “Neighbourhood Champions” who will report anti-social behaviour using a special website
In Nazi Germany they were known as brownshirts.
If I lived there, I'd recruit neighbors to snoop on the London council members at all hours of the day.
The Germans called them Brown Shirts.
What is fly-tipping?
In my neighborhood they’d be known as ‘the recipients of a beat down’.
Orwell fans! Aren’t they cute. This will not end well.
I'm reporting you for promoting anti-social behaviour (<-- Please note British spelling).
/s
Found out myself - illegal dumping of trash or similar to skip-jacking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-tipping
How quaint of the English.
The Stasi in Britain.
Who knew flies sat still long enough to be tipped? Sounds fishy.
I just found out my four year old grandson, with his teacher’s help, fills out a “diary” about his personal life. My wife was ecstatic because he talked about how much a part of his life she was. My thoughts, during the entire conversation, were, this is family life snooping.
You KNOW why they do it...
The news was cool though.
If we had school age kids, in this computer/internet age there is no bleeping way we would send our kids to public or private school.It would all be home schooling. Public schools are not just antiquated. They are utterly obsolete, and separate children from their nurturing families.
I was thinking the same thing.
Who will snoop on the snoopers?
Snitches ... a dying breed
Don’t they have cows in England?
Fly tipping?
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