1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,440
Speaker 1: Our Neighborhood Watch in the Northern Territory. They use information

2
00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: from the police and the community to develop and deliver

3
00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:11,520
Speaker 1: safety resources that help Territorians to stay secure and become

4
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:16,200
Speaker 1: more connected in an effort to feel safer. Now that

5
00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 1: advice no doubt going to be incredibly useful as we

6
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,320
Speaker 1: head to the East long weekend. Plenty of people planning

7
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,400
Speaker 1: to go away. So what exactly can we do to

8
00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,040
Speaker 1: make our homes and our property more secure if we

9
00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,840
Speaker 1: are planning to go away. Well, joining us on the

10
00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 1: show is Veronica Larson, who's the CEO of Anty Neighborhood Watch.

11
00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,239
Speaker 2: Good morning, Veronica, Good morning to you, Katie. Thanks for

12
00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:41,919
Speaker 2: invading me on.

13
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,280
Speaker 1: This lovely to have you on the show live from

14
00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:45,519
Speaker 1: Alice Springs, aren't you.

15
00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,160
Speaker 2: Yes, that's right beautiful.

16
00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:49,960
Speaker 1: Is it nice weather down there this morning?

17
00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,600
Speaker 2: It is lovely this morning. It's not too hot. So

18
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:54,840
Speaker 2: when you're looking good.

19
00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:58,680
Speaker 1: Good to hear. Now, Veronica, tell us a little bit more.

20
00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:01,920
Speaker 1: I mean, we know that is traditionally a time when

21
00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,520
Speaker 1: a lot of people do either head into state or

22
00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,399
Speaker 1: they go camping for a few days. What tips do

23
00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,320
Speaker 1: you have for people who are heading away in terms

24
00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:12,080
Speaker 1: of keeping their property secure.

25
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,560
Speaker 2: Up certainly, We've sent out sort of a top five

26
00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,880
Speaker 2: list and I'll just catch on those very quickly. We'd

27
00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,320
Speaker 2: love people to have a preventive look around their home

28
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,119
Speaker 2: and make sure things like their outdoor house lights are

29
00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,919
Speaker 2: working so they can leave those on will stare away,

30
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,600
Speaker 2: as well as checking their windows and locks around the

31
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,000
Speaker 2: property to ensure that they are working and they can't

32
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,680
Speaker 2: be accessed from outside of the house. Yes, we love

33
00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 2: to encourage folks to double check that their house member

34
00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,880
Speaker 2: is actually visible from the street. It's quite surprising how

35
00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,440
Speaker 2: many are not. And in case there was an emergency,

36
00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,320
Speaker 2: people emergency first responders need to be able to see

37
00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:53,920
Speaker 2: your home as quickly as possible for a multitude of reasons.

38
00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,440
Speaker 2: We also encourage people to let a responsible neighbor know

39
00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,720
Speaker 2: that you're going out of town. Perhaps if they're good

40
00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 2: enough MAKED, you can request if they collect your mail

41
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,440
Speaker 2: and your bins and keep an eye out for suspicious behavior,

42
00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:08,920
Speaker 2: because of course we definitely want to report that to

43
00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:13,240
Speaker 2: the non emergency line to the police. We would like

44
00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,200
Speaker 2: them to as well not be putting things on social

45
00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,120
Speaker 2: letting everyone know that they're going out of town ahead

46
00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,519
Speaker 2: of time. As criminals can obviously see that you'd be

47
00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,880
Speaker 2: leaving your home unoccupied. Another visible issue that we're having

48
00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 2: is the purchasing of expensive items such as cameras, laptops,

49
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:33,560
Speaker 2: new phones that you might be taking with you on

50
00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 2: the holiday, and just making sure those boxes are not

51
00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,240
Speaker 2: set out on your property near your bins or in

52
00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,079
Speaker 2: view of the street if the backside of your property

53
00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,200
Speaker 2: has a lane way, making sure that it isn't seen

54
00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:50,040
Speaker 2: from that direction either. Just you know, we want to

55
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:55,480
Speaker 2: reduce the idea of opportunistic crime for people, unlessen everyone's

56
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,440
Speaker 2: chances of becoming victim to opportunistic crime. And then the

57
00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,520
Speaker 2: last one, and I would suggest maybe the most important

58
00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:08,480
Speaker 2: is going on NHWNT website to check out our Absentee

59
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,160
Speaker 2: Advice form. It is a form that we send the

60
00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,480
Speaker 2: police and we work with them to let them know

61
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 2: that a person is leaving their house unoccupied. We collect

62
00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,000
Speaker 2: a person that's local that we can contact in case

63
00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,160
Speaker 2: of an emergency, as well as how they'd best like

64
00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,120
Speaker 2: to be contacted. And over the holiday, Over the Christmas holiday,

65
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,400
Speaker 2: it was just terrific. I had several police officers call

66
00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,000
Speaker 2: me to run a query for the people that were

67
00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:35,560
Speaker 2: actually out of their homes. So the police are really

68
00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:37,920
Speaker 2: going above and beyond to check in on these people

69
00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,480
Speaker 2: and do additional drive bys and just ensure that the

70
00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,160
Speaker 2: property looks secure and that nothing's really amiss. So it's

71
00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,960
Speaker 2: a great thing to do. It's completely free of charge.

72
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:48,760
Speaker 2: You can do them as often as you like, whether

73
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,560
Speaker 2: you're going away for just one night or ten nights

74
00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,680
Speaker 2: or a month. So please access that through the Neighborhood

75
00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,240
Speaker 2: Watch in Tea website.

76
00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,560
Speaker 1: I had no idea you could do that, Veronica.

77
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, good, I'm so glad that we can get out

78
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:04,360
Speaker 2: a little bit more educate it.

79
00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,720
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, particularly like for everybody of

80
00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 1: course having right around the Northern territory, but particularly in

81
00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,600
Speaker 1: some of our smaller town centers like Catherine Alice Springs,

82
00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,160
Speaker 1: you know, Tenant Creek, something like that's actually, I would imagine,

83
00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,200
Speaker 1: really quite useful if you don't have somebody else coming

84
00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,719
Speaker 1: into houseit in terms of the police, you know, or

85
00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,839
Speaker 1: in terms of people doing a bit of a drive

86
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,039
Speaker 1: a drive around, but also should something go wrong, the

87
00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,360
Speaker 1: police they're knowing immediately after contacting you guys that hey,

88
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:37,440
Speaker 1: this person's actually away.

89
00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,560
Speaker 2: That's exactly right, And the response time, it can just

90
00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,200
Speaker 2: be so much more, so much faster, and everyone can

91
00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 2: get to you a little bit quicker. So that's really

92
00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,400
Speaker 2: a helpful thing for people to have.

93
00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 1: Now, are there any tips for people in terms of

94
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,680
Speaker 1: keeping our vehicles secure or different things? I mean, obviously

95
00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,200
Speaker 1: locking the car and have it in a locked garage

96
00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,080
Speaker 1: if that is a possibility, But are there other things

97
00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:04,839
Speaker 1: that we can do.

98
00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,040
Speaker 2: Certainly, so when you are going out of town, make

99
00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,880
Speaker 2: sure you're taking those keys with you, so if someone

100
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,200
Speaker 2: were to break in those keys, they would not be

101
00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:15,800
Speaker 2: able to at least take the car with the own

102
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,120
Speaker 2: set of keys. And there are high statistics around how

103
00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:23,279
Speaker 2: many cars are actually taken with the owner set of keys,

104
00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,440
Speaker 2: so we definitely want to prevent that from happening. And

105
00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 2: we also want to make sure even if it's even

106
00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:30,159
Speaker 2: if your car is parked in a garage, but there

107
00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:35,279
Speaker 2: aren't additional valuables in it that would increase someone's likelihood

108
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:40,000
Speaker 2: of breaking the windows to access those goods.

109
00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,360
Speaker 1: And I know that some people, you know, you can

110
00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,240
Speaker 1: get those little apple track I don't know what they

111
00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,279
Speaker 1: called those air drops or whatever they called those apple ones.

112
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,479
Speaker 1: People put them in their cars as well, so that

113
00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,000
Speaker 1: should your car go missing, I guess it can be tracked.

114
00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:57,359
Speaker 1: Is that something that you recommend people do, or is

115
00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,720
Speaker 1: that you know something that you hear of people doing.

116
00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,480
Speaker 2: Yes, I do hear of people doing that, and I

117
00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:06,159
Speaker 2: don't think it has any harm, and it could be

118
00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,880
Speaker 2: beneficial to someone should their card disappear. But I think

119
00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,120
Speaker 2: it's really important to know that those Apple devices do

120
00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,240
Speaker 2: run on batteries and so they will run out eventually.

121
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:19,719
Speaker 2: So if you're going to use one and you want

122
00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:22,560
Speaker 2: to make sure it's you're getting the full effectiveness of

123
00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,360
Speaker 2: the piece, please ensure that you're checking it often on

124
00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:28,240
Speaker 2: your on your phone and on the device to make

125
00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,560
Speaker 2: sure that it is still working and that the signal

126
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:32,760
Speaker 2: is readable and trackable.

127
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,960
Speaker 1: Again, very good advice, Veronica. Is how important is it

128
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,040
Speaker 1: as well? If some way possible, you know that good

129
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,400
Speaker 1: old fashioned knowing your neighbor and letting your iba know

130
00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,920
Speaker 1: that you're going away and and just having that conversation

131
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,840
Speaker 1: and just keeping an eye out for each other. How

132
00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:51,640
Speaker 1: important is that?

133
00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,440
Speaker 2: It is critical? And it's one of our core values

134
00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,839
Speaker 2: that Neighborhood Watch. We know that the better connect to

135
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,320
Speaker 2: the community is the safer a community is. So your

136
00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:04,640
Speaker 2: neighbors are really the people that you want looking out

137
00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,719
Speaker 2: for you, because they're doing it even if you don't

138
00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 2: ask it, even if they didn't know you were going away.

139
00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,760
Speaker 2: They're the people that see you day to day. They

140
00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:13,840
Speaker 2: know who's coming into your home, they know what kind

141
00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:16,320
Speaker 2: of cars are in your driveway, and they would know

142
00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,240
Speaker 2: immediately if something looked a bit suspicious. So it's really

143
00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:21,760
Speaker 2: they do it even when they don't mean to be

144
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,040
Speaker 2: doing it, but it's even better should they know to

145
00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,200
Speaker 2: be looking out for you. So we definitely encourage that

146
00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:31,520
Speaker 2: we have Hey their Neighbor Cards as a bit of

147
00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,440
Speaker 2: an icebreaker that you can access again through our website

148
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,880
Speaker 2: on our resources page, again free of charge. You just

149
00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,360
Speaker 2: fill it out and you can put your name and

150
00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:41,960
Speaker 2: give it to your neighbor and let them know how

151
00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,400
Speaker 2: you'd like to be contacted. We're setting up we're getting

152
00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:49,160
Speaker 2: a lot of traction under setting up Facebook community groups

153
00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:53,520
Speaker 2: or what's that Facebook community group where people can share

154
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,040
Speaker 2: up to date information about what's going on in their neighborhood,

155
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,280
Speaker 2: opportunities to connect in their neighborhood, to get you know

156
00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,920
Speaker 2: one another, and sharing even information from our website to

157
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,720
Speaker 2: assisting that educational piece of just keeping everybody as safe

158
00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:12,320
Speaker 2: as possible with preventative safety tip.

159
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,600
Speaker 1: Just remind us of that website, Veronica, or if anybody

160
00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:17,440
Speaker 1: is listening this morning and they're keen to get a

161
00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:19,080
Speaker 1: little bit more information.

162
00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:24,560
Speaker 2: Certainly that's NHWNT dot org dot au.

163
00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,760
Speaker 1: Well, Veronica Larson, CEO of Neighborhood Watch, really good to

164
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: speak with you this morning. I really appreciate your time.

165
00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,320
Speaker 2: It's my pleasure, Katie, thanks again for invading me.

166
00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:34,960
Speaker 1: Thank you