Neighbourhood Support seeking new Te Puke co-ordinator

Neighbourhood Support's Bay of Plenty manager is Bruce Banks with Te Puke Community Constable Rameka Poihipi.

Making Te Puke a safer and more caring place to live is the goal of Neighbourhood Support's Bay of Plenty manager Bruce Banks.

Bruce is acting as caretaker co-ordinator for Te Puke Neighbourhood Support until a new area co-ordinator can be found.

He says the area co-ordinator would be the face of Neighbourhood Support in Te Puke and would help the organisation build its membership to help prevent property crime, as well as build community resilience and disaster preparedness.

''We want a really active person who is passionate about their community and crime and safety to help us build the household membership in Te Puke town,'' says Bruce.

He says there are no expectations in terms of the minimum amount of time spent on the role, with some co-ordinators only able to spend a few hours a week, but others, who might be time rich, spending much longer.

The key is growing the membership, with reaching membership milestones something to be celebrated.

''When something like this gains momentum, others want to be involved and you get people joining at a greater rate than you would normally.''

The more people who are members, the greater the reach of information, the more effective the organisation is in preventing crime, he says.

Bruce says the Neighbourhood Support newsletter includes a police report on crime activity, and if it goes to all the residents of a street where there has been a number of similar incidents, then everyone is aware and can be more security conscious.

Te Puke Community Constable Rameka Poihipi says there are strong ties between police and Neighbourhood Support and joining a Neighbourhood Support group helps neighbours get to know one another and to be more confident about calling police if they see someone on a property who they believe shouldn't be there.

''It's massively important - just that alone, getting to know your neighbours, getting their numbers,'' he says.

Membership is built on street groups and one of the roles of the town co-ordinator would be to assist in their formation.

Bruce says the co-ordinator would receive training, mentoring and resources and the role could be shared between two people.

Further afield there are now Neighbourhood Support Groups established in Rangiuru and Pukehina, and there is interest in groups being formed in Paengaroa and Maketū.

Anyone interested in the co-ordinator role can email Bruce at nstepuke@wbopns.org.nz

The Pukehina group co-ordinator is Kate Blakeborough (email: nspukehina@wbopns.org.nz) and the Rangiuru co-ordinator is Colleen Pye (email: nsrangiuru@wbopns.org.nz)