Burgernet and Neighborhood Watch
Burgernet
Starting September 1, 2023, Burgernet will be accessible via the Burgernet app.
With Burgernet, you work together with the police to keep your neighborhood safe. Every participant helps make the neighborhood a little safer. Because the more people who participate, the faster a person or vehicle can be found.
How does it work?
As a Burgernet participant, you’ll receive an alert when something happens in your area. The alert will ask you to keep an eye out for a person or vehicle. If you see anything, call the dispatch center directly. You can do this by dialing the toll-free Burgernet number 0800-0011 or by tapping the “Call the Police” button in the app. You can also send a direct message to the relevant regional Burgernet Twitter account where the alert was posted. So download the Burgernet app for Apple or Android.
In most municipalities, Burgernet also uses email to inform you about a suspicious or unsafe situation—or to ask if you’ve seen anything in your neighborhood.
Burgernet is used in cases such as theft, burglary, hit-and-run accidents, robberies, and missing persons. AMBER Alerts are also distributed through the Burgernet app.
For more information: www.burgernet.nl
WhatsApp Neighborhood Watch
A WhatsApp Neighborhood Watch Group in Your Neighborhood. All across the Netherlands, more and more residents are using WhatsApp groups to make their neighborhoods safer. Several groups are already active in Voorschoten as well. Using WhatsApp’s group chat feature, neighbors can alert each other to issues happening in the neighborhood. Together, they can keep an eye on things and report suspicious situations to the police more quickly. The municipality and the police wholeheartedly welcome the initiative to create a WhatsApp group because neighbors serve as extra eyes and ears in the neighborhood.
What is a WhatsApp group?
WhatsApp is an app that you can download to your smartphone. In WhatsApp, you can use the group chat feature to send a message to multiple people at the same time when you create a WhatsApp group or join one.
WhatsApp in Your Area
You can check whether there is already a WhatsApp group for your neighborhood atwww.wabp.nl. All administrators of groups known to the municipality have registered their groups on this site.
Support from the municipality and the police
Would you like to start your own WhatsApp group for your neighborhood? If so, please register your group atwww.wabp.nl. This website (also a citizen-led initiative) offers tips and tricks and also compiles a list of as many groups as possible. Through this website, administrators of neighboring groups are connected with one another.
Recruitment and promotional materials
The municipality is happy to assist you in recruiting participants, for example by providing a recruitment flyer. To do so, please contact the municipality via“Submit a Report” at.
You can request special WhatsApp stickers for windows, doors, and mailboxes via email. You can share these with the members of your group. This way, you can show as a community that your neighborhood is on the lookout for suspicious situations.
Let your community police officer know that you have a WhatsApp group in your neighborhood. You can find contact information for community police officers atwww.politie.nl. Community police officers are not part of WhatsApp groups: if you notice anything suspicious, call the police at 1-1-2. However, the community police officer can inform other residents about your initiative. In addition to the community police officer and the municipality, you can also notify other partners in your neighborhood about your WhatsApp group (such as your housing authority or neighborhood association).
For much more information about the purpose of WhatsApp groups, ground rules, and practical tips, please visit the following website:Stripheldenbuurt.