OWL Welcomes Farmers & Farm Watch Members
OWL is a twice Government award-winning solution for police & communities to keep in touch at a local level and reduce crime. Local officers use OWL to communicate directly with the community on a regular basis to warn them of the latest incidents and receive responses back with information - sometimes leading to arrests and the return of stolen items, animals or missing people..
Nearly 4,000 farms are signed up to OWL so far!
Farmers can sign up for free to receive timely, local alerts by text message (SMS), email, telephone or fax. You choose which and when. The rural policing team send alerts via OWL when a crime has occurred - machinery theft, livestock theft, diesel theft, etc.
27% reduction in farm related crime in 5 months!
Across Gwent farm related crime dropped by 27% after OWL was heavily used by the police to communicate with rural communities. As farm watch membership increased along with messages from the police, information flow went up 10-fold! This led to arrests and recovery of stolen property including expensive tools and a £20,000 digger.
The video above shows BBC News featuring Farm Watch powered by OWL. Farmers are interviewed saying what a difference it makes. Press the play button to watch it now. (Or watch it directly on YouTube).
66% reduction in crime in June 2014 compared to June 2013
Below, OWL is featured on BBC Crimewatch. Press play to watch.
230,000 homes & 20,000 businesses signed up to OWL!
Why not use social media instead?
Most people using social media have 100's of friends or follows resulting in 100's of new messages every day. It's not practical to check every tweet or post if you're busy trying to work. Many messages won't get read, so that crucial message warning of livestock thefts in the area will go unnoticed. Social media messages sometimes contain irrelevant information from many miles away that has nothing to do with where you live or work.
OWL alerts are different because they are sent directly to you making your mobile beep (SMS), your email inbox light up, or your phone or fax ring. OWL messages are very hard to miss and get your attention. If you choose to receive text messages then when one arrives you'll know it's probably important and will read it straight away. OWL messages can be localised and targeted just to individual roads or wards keeping the information relevant based on your home or work address.
The video above from 2014 shows how OWL helped to significantly reduce farm related crime in Gwent and was fully supported by their Police & Crime Commissioner. (Or watch it directly on YouTube).
1 million alerts sent using OWL every month
OWL has helped recover stolen goods including quad bikes and machinary. It even helped locate a missing cow after a rural town was put on alert by the police using OWL. (The cow was found safe and well)
OWL can be operated by the police or in partnership with your local Farmers Union office. They can be given access to OWL to manage their members and send important messages as and when.
Through participation of local government agencies including CSPs, Trading Standards, Police, Fire & Rescue, and others, OWL provides the public with valuable, timely, and local information that effects lives and genuinely prevents crime. See below...
OWL appeared on BBC1's eye-opening, real-life crime series Doorstep Crime 999. Gloria Hunniford showed how OWL helped prevent someone from becoming the next victim of a callous distraction burglary. Watch a short preview or the watch the whole story here. This highlights just one of OWL's successes in helping prevent crime and catching offenders.
OWL is available to all UK police forces, CSPs, and councils to support residential & business watches or to start their own public communication channels. If your organisation would like to enquire about using OWL please contact us.
Finding & Joining Your Nearest Watch
To register or get in touch with your nearest watch scheme in Herts, Staffs, North Wales, Gwent, West Yorkshire or Dyfed Powys, please select the scheme you're most intersted in and provide your full residential or business postcode.
Police force support more schemes than are actually listed here.
Awards & Testimonials
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"OWL has delivered on its promise to dramatically improve communication" "Good communication with our communities is pivotal to this success and OWL can deliver this in ways appropriate to the 21st century." "Our Watch managers and members have been unanimous in their praise for the versatile & user-friendly product" "I thought the OWL system, its range of functionality and user-interface was excellent” "OWL is highly regarded by those Safer Neighbourhood teams that currently have access to it" "OWL offers a benefit beyond some of the most sophisticated police systems" "As coordinators we should encourage the widest possible use of OWL... setting up watches on OWL is staggeringly fast and accurate" |
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| e-Government National Awards 2008 Winner: Innovation in local strategy | ||
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| Awarded by the Prime Minister for reducing crime & empowering communities | ||
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| Winner of Britain's Digital Elite awarded by Microsoft & Real Business | ||
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| Network Wales Awards 2010, runner up for Best Communications |
Inspire Confidence
