Privacy Policy

Neighbourhood Watch is dedicated to keeping your personal information private. We have a legal obligation to safeguard the personal and confidential information you provide us.

This notice outlines Neighbourhood Watch's policies for managing personal and confidential information, and it is available to anyone who requests it. You can read our full Privacy Policy here.

Collecting personal information

We can only collect personal and confidential information if it is necessary for our organisation's functions or activities or to enable us to carry out our work and deliver services to the community.

We will collect personal information in a fair, legal, and non-intrusive manner. Whenever possible, we will collect information directly from you rather than from third parties. If we do collect information about you from a third party, we will do our best to inform you.

When we collect information from you, we will aim to make sure you know:

• who we are and how to contact us;
• why we are collecting your personal information;
• any laws that require us to collect it;
• the organizations or types of organizations to whom we would usually disclose it;
• the consequences for you if you choose not to provide the information; and
• how you can access the information if you wish to do so.

We will take reasonable steps to:

• ensure the accuracy, completeness, and currency of the personal information we collect, use, or disclose; and
• protect the personal information we hold from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.

Information disclosure

We are not allowed to use or disclose personal or commercially sensitive information about you unless:

• it is for the primary purpose or a reasonably expected secondary purpose for which the information was collected
• you give us permission to use or disclose it
• it is permitted by law, such as by court order or as part of a law enforcement function
• it is necessary for community policing purposes; in which case we will keep a written record of the use or disclosure.

If the personal information is no longer needed for any purpose and relevant legislation allows it, we will take reasonable steps to either destroy it or make it permanently unidentifiable.

Accessing your personal information

Upon request, we will provide you with general information about the personal information we hold, its purpose, and how we collect, store, use, and disclose it.

If you ask, we will generally grant you access to the information we hold about you. However, there are exceptions to this. For instance:

• if providing access would seriously and immediately threaten someone's life or health;
• if providing access would unreasonably affect others' privacy;
• if the access request is frivolous or vexatious; or
• if the information is exempt from disclosure by law.

However, if providing access would reveal evaluative information related to commercially sensitive decision-making within the organisation, we may explain the decision instead of granting direct access to the information.

Whenever it is legal and practical, individuals will have the choice to remain anonymous when engaging in transactions with our organisation.

How we use your personal information

When you give us personal information, such as your name, address, telephone number and email, we record it on our secure database and may use it to contact you in the future. 

We may use your personal information to send you information, tips and advice about crime prevention, let you know about our programs, events and volunteering opportunities, or to contact you with important information about your local Neighbourhood Watch Group and/or your Neighbourhood Watch Victoria membership.

If you have contacted us about joining your local Neighbourhood Watch Group, we will share your personal information with that group, so they can process your membership.

Each time we send you a direct marketing email, we will provide you with a simple way to unsubscribe “opt out” of receiving similar communications in the future. 

You can also let us know that you no longer wish to receive any communications from us by emailing admin@nhw.com.au 

How we collect your personal information

We collect your personal information when you provide it to us. This can include:

• completing an electronic form on our website
• completing a How Safe Is My Place quiz
• completing a paper-based form at a Neighbourhood Watch event or activity and returning it to us; or
• registering for a Neighbourhood Watch event.

We also collect usage data when you visit our website. This includes the name of your internet service provider, the website which you visited us from, the parts of our site you visit, the date and duration of your visit, country, language and the device, operating system and web browser type you used during your visit, so we can present the most relevant content to you.

Read our Privacy Policy.