Streetwatchers reclaim the streets of Weyhe

Weyhe (30,500 inhabitants) in the vicinity of Bremen gives a first impression of being very peaceful. However, local residents a few years ago increasingly felt this wasn’t the case in practice. Young people, generally 13-19 year-olds, were carrying on loudly in public places, especially at night, often using drugs and drinking alcohol. Public places were being turned into rubbish dumps.  Parents were especially incensed that children’s playgrounds, nurseries and school playgrounds were often taken over for these activities.    

A lot of damage was also being done. A wooden hut, which had been built for local youngsters, at their request, was burnt down. A row of old trees was chopped down to the stumps.

For years nothing was done to stop this anti-social behaviour, which continued unabated. Some local people called for a private security service to be brought in, others wanted to bar young people from all public places. Eventually, the local council, the police and the local community group Pro-Youth got together and decided to pursue a different.

Download the German version of this case study. 

The agreed objectives were to reduce current levels of anti-social behaviour and to improve the wellbeing of young people in Weyhe.

The solution chosen was to deal with the anti-social behaviour through a co-production approach. This involved appointing ‘streetwatchers’ who would approach young people where they meeting up and talking to them. The basic message they gave was: “We want you to have fun – and you can even do it here. However, there are some rules you have to co-operate with, if you want to stay here”.

The volunteers were given special training over one weekend. The police briefed them for two hours on their rights and duties as streetwatchers, e.g. on issues such as arrests, personal searches, de-escalation of confrontational situations and how young people need to protect themselves, e.g. from alcohol abuse or pressures to start using drugs. Other sessions focussed on communication methods and behaviour issues, such as sexual health and behaviour. The local council made sure that the streetwatchers were properly insured, which was particularly important, given the risks involved in such a role.

Streetwatchers always work in teams of three – at least one male, at least one female and at least one elderly person. They are typically on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights, holidays and during local events. (However, they have a winter break from November to March). They assemble at the police station, where their equipment is stored.

After every shift,  the streetwatcher team writes a brief report on what happened during the night, without mentioning any names. This is circulated to all streetwatchers. When a major incident has happened, the police also get a copy of the report. In addition, the streetwatchers have a monthly meeting with the police to discuss recurring anti-social behaviour problems.

The monthly meeting is also used to plan the duty of the streetwatchers of the next month. This allows Herr Grosser to accommodate individual needs. For example, two streetwatchers could not be very active for one year but were keen to continue to be involved in  the scheme and hoping to be able to do more next year. Others wished to do more than two week-ends per months. It is remarkable that the team of streetwatchers manages to cover all week-ends even when some of colleagues get sick or drop out for other unforeseen reasons.

Thomas Kues, head of the police in Weyhe, considers the project a big success. Crime statistics show that the number of calls for police action, and the number of vandalism incidents, have decreased significantly.

Moreover, partnership working between the police, the streetwatchers and youth services has improved. Often, citizens ringing up the police to complain about anti-social behaviour – for example, some noisy neighbours – are passed instead to the streetwatchers, since they are much better skilled at de-escalating conflicts. This allows the police to focus their resources on serious crime issues.

Local councillors have also become very supportive. When Günther Meyer and Marcus Grosser presented their first report on the activities of the streetwatchers in March 2010, even the most sceptical councillors praised the project.

Most importantly, young people in Weyhe also now have a very positive view of the project. In interviews, local young people stressed that they just want to use public places to ‘chill out‘ –  they certainly don’t want trouble with the police. However, at times there have been some trouble-makers, who have been hard to control – so they appreciate help in this. Most young people now appreciate that streetwatchers don’t approach them with negative attitudes. The high level of trust built up between the streetwatchers and young people mean that they are often called for help in issues such as bullying, drunken friends or personal relationship issues.

From April – December 2008 streetwatchers provided 805 hours of patrols on the streets. During this period, only one critical situation occurred. In 2009, the number of volunteer streetwatchers increased to 38, who provided 850 hours of service. In 2010 the number of volunteers decreased to 32, providing 810 hours of service. In 2014 there were still 30 streetwatchers with 26 being active every week-end during the summer and 4 streetwatchers being available for occasional activities 'as-needed'. However, this was not due to burn-out but rather natural fluctuation, as some streetwatchers moved out of the area.

An evaluation report by the local police states: “The streetwatchers started in spring 2008. Although it is hard to measure the impact of prevention, the fact that the number of street incidents has fallen since streetwatchers have become active suggests a causality between both events.”

The Weyhe Streetwatcher Scheme has inspired other local councils to focus more on prevention to make the streets safe. For example, the council of Bruchhausen-Vilsen also set up a Streetwatcher Scheme in 2009, based on the Weyhe approach. Other local councils have also shown interest.

The local council has supported and funded the Streetwatcher Scheme from the very start. In the first year, it gave about €9300 for equipment, training and a small payment for the volunteers. Since then, the Streetwatcher Scheme has only required €6800 per year.

On the savings side, the expenditure needed to repair damage to public places and facilities resulting from vandalism has been reduced. It is estimated that about €15000 has been saved since 2009 due to this fall in vandalism.

The streetwatcher scheme in Weyhe has been a lot more successful than similar 'nightwatch' schemes elsewhere in Germany. According to Herr Grosser this is due to two factors:

• The association Pro-Youth has been very active in networking with other local associations and attracting their members to take part in training sessions run for volunteers who work with young people. These training sessions have been condensed into two weekends and give a qualification - and have acquired a reputation for being great fun!
• Pro-Youth has convinced the local press to give great coverage to the work of the streetwatchers and other Pro-Youth activities.

The streetwatchers have learnt that the negative image of young people which is often shown in the media is generally not valid. In particular, when young people are treated as equals and are provided with support when they need it, they tend to react positively.

However, the streetwatchers have also influenced young people to be more willing to comply with legal rules and to respect social conventions. Unlike the police, streetwatchers don’t take punitive action which intimidates young people; rather they use the power of persuasion, and the trust they have built up, to resolve conflicts before they escalate. Clearly, the streetwatchers are not an auxiliary police force – they operate rather as ‘friends and helpers’ of young people. While this has been a well-known slogan of the police in Germany, it has not always been credible – the streetwatchers have made it a reality.

Website of the youth club ProYOUgend Weyhe e.V. (in German)