Eye on crime: Ron Bell with his Neighbourhood Watch award. Picture: Tommy Ritchie 55531
Erin Pearson
WHEN Ron Bell moved into Bell Post Hill in the 1960s, he could never have imagined his neighbourly spirit would single-handedly produce 14 million newsletters.
But his efforts keeping tabs on crime and community safety for Neighbourhood Watch have now earned state and Australasian recognition.
The grandfather has been named Geelong’s first Neighbourhood Watch Australasia Malcolm Grant Volunteer of the Year.
He has also become the first resident of Geelong inducted into Neighbourhood Watch Victoria Hall of Fame.
As one of the first regional Victorians to join the community crime-prevention program, Mr Bell said he still remembered his first Neighbourhood Watch meeting 26 years ago.
The meeting led to the foundation of the first Neighbourhood Watch group in Geelong and the second in Victoria.
“I was reading a book in the doctor’s surgery about the fact America had just started-up Neighbourhood Watch programs and I thought it was a great idea,” Mr Bell said.
“The very next week there was an ad in the paper and I called up.
“Crime was very high in the area back in 1984 because Bell Post Hill was a developing area and thefts from houses being built were common. We had 127 people turn up at the first meeting and on the night 64 people signed up.
“It was terrific and a dozen or so of those people are still involved.”
Mr Bell said monthly meetings and his promise to print the area’s Neighbourhood Watch newsletter kept him actively involved in the program over the next quarter of a century.
He believed Neighbourhood Watch members played an effective role combating crime.
“We all keep an eye out for our neighbours,” he said.
“In the first year Neighbourhood Watch started, crime dropped 52 per cent. It would be very nice to have no crime rate but that drop was marvelous.”
Mr Bell began writing the monthly newsletter in 1984, using a printer from the former Shire of Corio.
He estimated his printing run over the years was close to 14 million.
“The City of Greater Geelong now provides me with a machine to print the newsletters on and I still print around 40,000 every month,” he said.
“I guess there’s a sense of security when you know your neighbours. I’m very proud of that.”
Mr Bell received a letter from Neighbourhood Watch’s state president inviting him to the awards on October 6. He attended two ceremonies a fortnight later.
“I got to make my first speech in parliament,” he laughed.
Mr Bell and his wife of 62 years Lorraine now spend their free time showing and judging show dogs.
