Neighborhood Prevention
Residents can make their neighborhood safer by starting a Neighborhood WhatsApp group. This is a WhatsApp group in which neighborhood residents keep each other informed of any suspicious situations.
By reporting suspicious situations in a Neighborhood WhatsApp, neighborhood residents are quickly alerted and can keep an eye on the suspect. Meanwhile, the police can be notified and proceed to possible action. Thus, there are more eyes and ears for the police and other supervisors.
Start a WhatsApp neighborhood prevention group
Would you like to start your own group for your neighborhood or street? Then we ask you to register this group with the municipality. You can do this by sending an e-mail to buurtpreventie@zoetermeer.nl. You can then also request a free neighborhood prevention board and stickers. Tips and playing rules for using a neighborhood WhatsApp group can be found at the bottom of this webpage.
![Traffic sign 'Attention Neighborhood Prevention'](https://cuatro.sim-cdn.nl/zoetermeer/uploads/styles/wysiwyg_large/media/attentie-buurtprev175.gif?cb=YP5QZzql)
Request Neighborhood Prevention Sign
Do you have a Neighborhood WhatsApp group in your neighborhood? To make it clear that residents are keeping a close eye on their street and neighborhood, you can have a sign posted in the street that says "Attention Neighborhood Prevention.
It is also possible to put a sticker on your front door with the same text. This can have a preventive effect on unwanted persons in your neighborhood. You can request a sign or sticker by emailing buurtpreventie@zoetermeer.nl or by calling the general telephone number 14 079.
Project Acting Power
Municipality and police launched the Heterdaadkracht project in September 2017.
Project Heterdaadkracht involves the police using WhatsApp to ask neighborhood residents to look out for the perpetrator(s) in the event of misdemeanor residential burglaries and other high-impact crimes. The administrators of the WhatsApp neighborhood prevention groups receive messages from the police specifically for their neighborhood. They can then forward these messages in their own WhatsApp group. This allows you to reach residents quickly and directly. And speed is very important in a crime. In this way the chance of being caught is increased and the municipality, police and residents make Zoetermeer even safer.
Administrators receive messages specific to their neighborhood via WhatsApp from the police. They can then forward these messages in their own WhatsApp group. In this way, the chance of being caught is increased and the municipality, police and residents make Zoetermeer even safer.
Will you participate?
Are you an administrator of a WhatsApp neighborhood prevention group and would like to sign up for this project? Please send an e-mail to buurtpreventie@zoetermeer.nl and indicate in your message that you would like to be added to your neighborhood's administrator group. Also, if you are starting a WhatsApp neighborhood prevention, you can send an email to join the administrator group.
Zoetermeer Safe
The municipality has the issue of safety high on its agenda and considers it important that residents feel safe in the city. It is a task of the municipality in cooperation with various parties. Efforts are made to both prevent and act when necessary. The municipality also involves its residents to ensure that Zoetermeer is and remains a livable and safe city.