THIS summer Neighbourhood Watch, the community crime prevention scheme, officially celebrates its 20th anniversary, but historically it may well be underselling itself.

Because it could be argued the idea goes back around 1,000 years.

In fact, only a couple of hundred yards or so from Worcester's new police station in Castle Street, where David Hancox, the NW administrator for south Worcestershire is based, the locals were keeping an eye out for each other in Saxon times.

At least that's the probability, since the road at the top of Castle Street is called The Tything.

Let David explain.

"Think of this country 1,000 years ago," he said. "Practically the whole of it was covered in oak trees. Gradually trees were felled and clearings made in which houses were built. When you had a clearing, which contained between 15 to 20 houses, you had a 'tything'.

"The tything area was the first Neighbourhood Watch system.

"These early communities had a great feeling of community responsibility and a civil duty to look after your neighbours. For instance, if a man had his cow stolen overnight and went to his neighbour with a request to help him look for it and the thief, the neighbour was obliged to help him. If the neighbour refused to help, he could be hanged from the nearest tree, without trial.

"The community considered it at least an equal crime to refuse to help a neighbour as to steal from him. Times have certainly changed!

"The tything appointed an unpaid officer to catch villains, the shire reeve - later to become the sheriff. He was really the first unpaid local constable and could call upon all male members of the community to form a search party, the ''posse commitatus''. Hence you get sheriffs and posses.

"In the 17th Century, when the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to the New World and took with them all the current ideas on law and order, the words sheriff and posse began appearing in the Wild West."

David said the story developed in modern times in mid-1960s America

"This period saw a huge increase in inner city crime, domestic burglary and vandalism. The law enforcement agencies were stretched to the limit and had to look around for an idea that could help.

"They came up with a programme of community involvement. It was agreed the local community could play a larger part in actually preventing crime happening by remaining vigilant and reporting suspicious incidents.

"This was the first attempt at a modern Neighbourhood Watch.

"Obviously, as it was America, it involved the use of guns and street patrols, but it worked. Crime in these areas was dramatically reduced.

"In the late 1970s this country began to show the same signs of inner city crime rising and the Home Office looked around for a 'good idea' to help reduce the problem.

"They looked at America and imported the very idea of Community Involvement in Crime Prevention, which we had exported to them 300 years earlier.

"So, in effect, history has brought us round full circle with an idea which is at least 1,000 years old now helping to reduce current crime figures."

The first modern Neighbourhood Watch scheme in Britain was set up at Mollington, a small village in Cheshire, in 1982.

Within a very short time, they began sprouting up in Worcestershire and now David has more than 1,000 scheme co-ordinators on his patch, which covers the local authority districts of Worcester City, Wychavon and Malvern Hills.

The basic premise is quite simple and you don't actually need to be involved in Neighbourhood Watch to do this.

If you see someone acting suspiciously in your neighbourhood or have reason to believe things are not as they should be, tell the police. If it's urgent, ring 999.

"The sooner we know about it, the sooner we can deal with it," said David.

Through warnings received on the Watch network, police are able to issue "look out" alerts via the scheme co-ordinators to other areas. So if con-men, for example, are on the prowl, news of their activities can precede them.

The basic Neighbourhood Watch idea of protecting homes and their contents has spawned specialist schemes, so now you have Business Watch, Pub Watch, Shop Watch, Boat Watch, Farm Watch and even Allotment Watch.

Currently the emphasis is on distraction burglaries that target the vulnerable.

"If anyone encounters a group that attempt this, they should inform the police immediately," David added. "Then we can spread the word on the Neighbourhood Watch network.

If you want to know more about Neighbourhood Watch, you can contact David Hancox on 01905 331046.

The phone comes in handy. It's something they didn't have 1,000 years ago.