THE Neighbourhood Watch program is undergoing a major revamp on the Mornington Peninsula as part of a statewide transformation.
Twelve local area groups will be combined into three super groups based around Mornington, Rosebud and Sorrento.
All residents on the peninsula will be asked to join Neighbourhood Watch as Victoria Police reorganises the program that started in 1983 in Kananook, a part of Frankston.
Victoria has 1300 NHW zones and many are closing down as members age, retire or move away.
Area co-ordinators are having trouble recruiting new members and many zones are victims of their own success with crime rates dropping markedly and people thinking the program is not needed.
Ian Sharkie, the founder and co-ordinator of one of Rosebud's zones in the area known as The Avenues, says the zone of 800 homes started 10 years ago when there was a much higher level of crime.
Mr Sharkie, a former senior manager in the engineering industry, was co-ordinator of a NHW area in Doncaster before he retired to Rosebud.
He is adopting a wait and see approach over the proposed changes. "The loss of street-by-street crime statistics last year was not good," he said.
"We understand Victoria Police command is under pressure to best use resources. We are looking at the closing down of zones and amalgamation into bigger areas as a positive move at this stage."
Many NHW members are disappointed police no longer attend meetings.
Victoria Police crime prevention officer for Mornington Peninsula Shire, Leading Senior Constable Ron Musgrove, says the changes would be a "rebirth of Neighbourhood Watch".
"We'll be inviting the whole community to become part of the program, not just individual areas," he said. "Zones have been well manned for more than 20 years by loyal people, and now we are looking to bring young families into the program."
He is meeting all peninsula zone members in coming weeks and the changes will be in place by July 1.
"Watching out for your neighbours is something all people can do without having to attend meetings."
Kingston-Bayside NHW area chairman Ross Newton said statistics of burglaries, car thefts, thefts from cars, vandalism and other crimes published in area newsletters were "fundamental to the success of the program".
"Burglars would have been rubbing their hands together when they heard about this."
Mr Newton also criticised the decision to stop police from attending meetings, describing it as "like driving a sword through the heart" of the program.
Victoria's first Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator and co-founder Tom Newman recognises that the program needs to be reviewed as numbers dwindle.
He said that when the program began, the presence of police at the meetings was "50 per cent of the meeting" – meaning police attendance was very important to the program's success.
"Police resources are scarce. I respect that they are needed elsewhere. I'm not negative about the changes. I believe that the police and the community should work together and get behind [Chief Commissioner] Simon Overland," Mr Newman said.
State Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu has pledged that a Liberal state government would restore Neighbourhood Watch's access to street-by-street crime statistics.
"The Ombudsman found last year that Labor's statewide crime statistics were dodgy and now the Government is denying residents on the Mornington Peninsula Shire access to vital crime statistics."
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