Community Network Watch abbreviated to CNW utilises Network Radios is a free scheme for communities and residents to work together to help build safer places to live, and using technology such as network radios and applications such as Zello a productive community structure can be created and maintained.
In addition if local authorities and organisations can be involved then much needed external support can be given and even guided to providing the right type of support.
All too often we see support being offered but it is not the right type of support and often goes against what is really needed in society or a community, but what has that got to do with a network as we are describing here. Gathering information is the answer, this is not some sneaky beaky type of thing but by having a system that allows people to easily give input, and using an application such as Zello all information is saved (recorded) and can then be directed to the relevant services and with a bit of luck respond to what the community needs.
Of course one could say could email or a phone not be used to achieve this, well yes but very often various organisations and authorities deliberately make it very difficult to actually get in touch with, 15 minutes of menus or highlighted text links to other pages or menu selections on phones and then often a 20 minute wait until a human actually gets to speak to you or a please allow 20 days for us to respond to your email, well people just do not bother attempting things in the first place.
To know and have people very local to you all using an easy to use system is a great advantage, just knowing someone near you is there can be a major help, especially for more vulnerable people in the community. Whether this be an old person who has fallen, suspicious activity around you, gangs, anti social behaviour or intimidation which leaves people feeling alone and unsafe then a real time system can really help in so many ways.
If the system is also managed correctly then the advantages of such systems can really take hold and work.
Below is a basic outline of a well organised community system.
This diagram shows two communities. Below is a key:
Central control
This would be placed at the top of the area system, an area could be a postal code or wider area, they supply the infrastructure and organisational control, setting up groups for the communities within that area, provide training for administrators and moderators.
Community Control
The next level down is individual community control, a community will depend upon the layout of the area, in more populated areas this may be down to catchment areas for say a school or residents area. Community control will designate certain areas and then actual channels for the areas down to street level. All community control channels would be connected to each other and also central control.
Street Mod
A street moderator controls the actual channel created which would in most cases be a street or a road name, they would ensure appropriate usage is maintained, issue accounts to residents and deal with user issues in relation to the application. All street mods would be connected with their appropriate community control channel but no higher than that.
House
This really represents the residents and typically each dwelling would have its own callsign, however extensions to the callsigns can be added to include other people within the household. All residents are connected to the street mod channel.
In addition to this Street Mods and upwards can be connected to what we refer to as dispatch, dispatch would be a channel itself and persons within this channel could be the local Police or PCSO, First Responders and so on, depending upon the needs of society.
Operationally we could not expect everyone to always be online and it is better if a few street mods could be assigned to monitor their channels and respond if appropriate, the fact you do not need to be at home in your local area still means people can respond to residents if required.
All residents within their assigned channel can talk to each other at any time providing a network of people close by them at any given time.
The number of channels is unlimited and vary on number of users with essentially each street within a community having its own channel, but where appropriate Community Control can crosslink channels to form a bigger more encompassing net or alternatively confine residents to there own channel as larger channels may be too noisy and active to be effective.
As the system uses the internet to connect the various communities and all residents the cost implications are minimal with emphasis being placed on basic training for all users of which may cost in terms of venues to run this. In addition certainly Administrators and even some mods of larger channels may find it easier to invest in robust base stations as shown below as an example.
In most cases though for individual residents no special equipment is needed providing they have either a smartphone, or an internet connected device such as a tablet, PC, laptop and providing they use the main standard operating systems, Windows, Android, IOS, Mac. I would like to point out that IOS can use an app such as Zello it is a little limited in that if you do not have the app open on the screen then the best you get is a notification which you click to open the app. Android and other Android based systems such as Kindle Fire and most phones seem fine running the app in the background, i.e not open on the actual app screen itself and when someone talks they hear the message live. On a windows device obviously if the system is asleep or in standby mode nothing will be heard or shown until the system is woken up, however using a blank screen as a screensaver then Zello will be heard fine and you can talk back.
The only one downside to a system like this is that if base stations are used and connected by WiFi or cable then if a power outage occurs for whatever reason the base station even if run off batteries will have no internet connection, so all mods and admins would need to have Zello installed on their smartphones and would only need to login and use cellular data instead. If in a worst case scenario and we experienced a crushing cyber attack that could go on for weeks or months and all internet was lost the system would not work. But that is not to say we are dead in the water as we could turn to PMR 446 radio and use the same structure & callsigns and quickly set that system up to work and using it would be no different except the device we use, in this case not an internet capable device but a radio on the right band plan.
We would like to hope that local authorities would not just back such a scheme but would actually use the system themselves. It would still have to be made clear that in all cases 999 should be called in the event of an emergency and that this system does not distract from that, but in addition the system could be used as a fallback to get emergency help. Even if the local emergency services decided not to use such a system at the very least a callsign who hears a cry for help could respond and call up the emergency services on that callsigns behalf.
In addition, I have experienced this myself after call the emergency services that you are talking to an operator who is then having to relay everything you are saying to the emergency responders. Calls could easily be patched through to the responders allow the person making the call to speak directly to the responder, saving valuable time.
The options that network radios and or the applications that work as the interfaces on more or less any mainstream modern device is really limitless, real time updates, information and the secure feeling of knowing someone near you will respond to your fear or problem, no concerns over distance providing you have data coverage is something that should not be explored, tried and tested.
Security
As with anything on the internet these days security cannot be guaranteed, but the system is secure and providing people can keep their passwords safe and don’t press the PTT and tell everyone their bank details then their should not be much to worry about. However, saying this all users must be given at the very least a lesson on security and procedure. Telling people why they should not announce to everyone else that they are going away for the weekend and the house will be empty is not good security at all and gives criminals the information they need.
At the same time reporting something that is happening can lead you into some bother if the person(s) you are reporting are using the system themselves to avoid getting caught, and obviously we have to mention reprisals on residents for reporting them.
To help prevent this all users can privately talk to a mod or anyone else for that matter meaning no one else hears what is being said. In additions callsigns can be displayed that do not link to a property or person, but with Zello, mods can rename callsigns on their own system to display who and where they are.
As you can see, mods and upwards do require some more advanced specialist training, although it is easy to use they first need to be aware of what they can do.
We have the opportunity now emerging that more or less anyone can access and use, have local co-ordination working and ensuring the system is maintained in a way that works properly for all and anyone abusing the system can be muted, banned and removed from the channel or channels.
It is cost effective (actually to implement a decent sized network would not cost anything). It is user friendly and there is no reason at all why people cant just have a chat on the system in a less formal way, providing that this does not deflate the actual aims of the system, this less formal usage will help people become more confident and give them practice on the use of it.
You have the ability to catch up on what has been going on as the system records all messages and providing you have the right permissions set then you can replay them as and when you need to. You can even send images and files if required, this may be ideal in a situation where you have photographed something that needs to be passed onto the Police. Again this can be done confidentially by an individual without anyone else be aware of you doing this.
There are so many features that could be incorporated into this system and all without any cost to anyone.
PMR 446 UK Org 
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