Police have to be genuine about neighbourhood watch scheme

SO THE police would like residents to form neighbourhood watches (Sunday Mail, June 22)? Well, there were two burglaries in short succession in the block of flats next to the one in which I live in our quiet and previously crime-free suburban area, so the people in our little road reached a verbal understanding that we would henceforth look out for one another’s homes and immediately report absolutely anything suspicious to the police. This appears to be more or less what a neighbourhood watch scheme is about.
Last month (May 20 to be precise), just as I was leaving the main exit to our block, I heard a burglar alarm starting to ring in the block next door, the one where there had recently been two burglaries. I went to have a look and saw that it was ringing at a ground-floor flat and peered over the high fence round the small garden to see if I could detect any signs of a break-in, which I couldn’t. However, remembering our promise, I rushed back home and immediately phoned the police station responsible for our area (Yermasoyia). I explained what I had seen and heard, and pointed out that there had recently been two burglaries at that block of flats. The reaction that I received could only be described as “a shrug of the shoulders and couldn’t care less”. The policeman more or less told me to forget about it. I appreciate that the circumstances may not have warranted an emergency response, but surely, if nothing else, a patrol car could have been alerted to pass by on its rounds and quickly check as to whether there had been a break-in.
So, while the idea of neighbourhood watches may be a good idea, this will only work if the police themselves are prepared to take reports from the public seriously.

Tim Drayton, Agios Athanasios, Limassol