The initiative is another innovative project from Neighbourhood Watch and is called the Our Watch Walking Group, a bi-monthly walking group around Mount Isa city.

Our Watch aims to bring community members together, promote awareness about personal and property safety, and remind walkers to be vigilant of damage and vandalism to community property such as street lights, sprinklers or fencing.

With recent attacks in parks and recreational spaces across Australia, the project encourages individuals to walk in groups and to not exercise alone, increasing awareness of personal safety, then preventing opportunistic crimes such as these even though there have been no such cases to date in Mount Isa.

Data obtained from the Queensland Police Service Crime Map shows an increase in wilful damage  with 379 occurrences in 2012-2013, 395 in 2013-2014 and 526 so far in 2014-2015.

The project has been made possible through a grant from Neighbourhood Watch Australasia, supported by the Australian government. The idea for the project started from discussions with former Police Minister Jack Dempsey when he visited Mount Isa last year.

“Through discussions with Jack, this idea was born and we have been working on it all year to see it come to fruition,” Neighbourhood Watch Mount Isa administration and marketing co-ordinator Steph McCallum said.

Our Watch will be launched at Outback at Isa this Sunday, July 5, at 8am. All are welcome to attend, including pets and young children and prams. The launch will be celebrated with merchandise giveaways and a free barbecue breakfast after the walk.