THE SAFETY PAGE: WAG, POLICE, TRADING STANDARDS, NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH Welcome to The Safety Page, where you'll find information from and about all the bodies set up to protect you, the people of Wellesbourne and Walton from a lot of dodgy people out there - scamsters, crooks, burglars, con-people - and to try to make these 2 villages a better place to live: Wellesbourne Action Group, Police Newsletters, Police, Neighbourhood Watch and Trading Standards Messages, Neighbourhood Watch News. Static information is in Amenities, such as Police, Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, Trading Standards (including Scams) and the Parish Council Office. For previous months, link from the foot of this page or page one, or use Back Numbers. WELLESBOURNE ACTION GROUP Public Meetings The WAG Committee meets on the third Tuesday of nearly every month, at 7.30pm in the Conservative Club, and all meetings are open to the public. The next one is Tuesday 15th April 2008. Walking We walk on Tuesdays and the 4th Saturday of nearly every month. We've put photos from one walk up on the WAG site and are hoping to put up more soon. The next Saturday walk is on 26th April - e-mail us if you have any ideas - Peter, Hilary and Mike. WAG Site | WAG e-mail | Diary | Contacts | Constitution Wellesbourne Safer Neighbourhood Team The team is based at Wellesbourne Police station and covers Wolverton and Snitterfield, through Wellesbourne, down to Kineton and the Dassett wards to the border with Banbury. The present team consists of PC's Chris Cuthbertson and Tim Comyns with PCSO Dean Canning. [+ 2 more PCSOs - see below.] PC Chris Cuthbertson PC Tim Comyns PCSO Dean Canning Tim recently joined the team and brings with him experience from a previous career in the Royal Signals where he spent time in a policing role on detached duty in Sierra Leone. In mid February 2008, the team will be joined by two more Police community support officers. The team are heavily involved in Neighbourhood watch schemes, local village forums and encouraging PACT meetings. A PACT meeting is part of the neighbourhood policing process, and is short for Police And Communities Together. These meetings encourage local residents to put forward suggestions and issues for the local Policing teams to deal with. We will be advertising these meetings on our website in the near future. The whole PACT process will be explained in more detail at those meetings. We have had a busy few weeks. On Tim's first week, he was deployed with me to the scene of a firearms incident at Lighthorne Heath. Working closely with the firearms team, Tim and I were involved in the detaining of the suspect for the shooting and attempted murder of a local resident. The suspect is now remanded pending a Crown Court hearing. As a team we pride ourselves on quality of service, visibility and public reassurance. We aim to reduce the fear of crime and to protect people living and working within Warwickshire and we are working closely with the local residents and councillors to ensure that support can be given to the local community. Tim and Dean have met residents of Chapel Street, Wellesbourne following a series of criminal damage in the street when offenders scratched over 12 vehicles. Neighbourhood Watch has been reinforced. The meeting was very positive towards crime prevention and working with the team to catch the offenders. We would like to remind residents to secure their property, houses, garden sheds and in particular caravans. Kineton along with Wellesbourne has recently suffered graffiti. We are investigating these incidents and have named suspects who are being interviewed. If you believe something is suspicious or does not look right, then normally it isn't and I urge you to report it to the Police. If you would like advice on Neighbourhood Watch, Smartwater property marking equipment or any form of crime prevention advice, please contact us at the Police Station in Kineton Road Wellesbourne. CV35 9NR Tel: 842114 or via the links below: wellesbourne.snt@warwickshire.police.uk www.safer-neighbourhoods.co.uk/your- neighbourhood/stratford-district/Wellesbourne Chris Cuthbertson   We now have 2 more PCSOs: PCSO 6191 Henri (pronounced Henry) Smith PCSO 6182 Michelle Suddaby Newsletters Our fortnightly Newsletters can be viewed by visiting our Safer Neighbourhood Website. Clicking this link will bring you to our Safer Neighbourhood Wellesbourne Team Newsletters. From there you can access the newsletter amongst other articles and information: www.safer-neighbourhoods.co.uk/your- neighbourhood/stratford-district/ Wellesbourne/newsletter . If you have any comments regarding the Community Policing Team Newsletter, we would welcome your feedback. If you are aware of anyone else who may benefit from receiving these newsletters, or wish to be notified when each one is available to read, please let us know. Thank you for taking the time to read our Community Policing Team newsletters. Your priorities Please find attached a Word document. This is for you to complete and return to us to highlight your local Policing priorities to us. We look forward to receiving your replies. Thank you, SNT Wellesbourne Team   Protecting our communities together “We are building a new police service that is even more capable of protecting people who live, work or travel in Warwickshire from harm.” Keith Bristow, Chief Constable   Latest alerts: Messages are posted as soon as possible after I receive them, but in future, if they are already up on another site, I shan't be repeating them here - Peter. If you have information about any of these incidents, please contact Stratford Police on 01789 414111 quoting the incident number if any, or call Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111. MESSAGE dated Tuesday, March 25, 2008 21:39 ... Subject: door to door salesmen One of our Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators on the Dovehouse has today (25th March) reported the following: two men in a silver Peugeot registration W332 BJO called selling loft and cavity wall insulation. Their opening gambit was the speed with which they could carry out the work. No company identification was available and although money was not thought to be asked for up front he was not comfortable with them. So please be on your guard if they knock on your door. Please pass this on to any one you can, even at the risk of neighbours receiving it twice! Many many thanks. Keep up the good work Frankie, Neighbourhood Watch MESSAGE dated Wednesday, 19 March 2008 12:02 ... Subject: Cabinet Office Questionnaire - Tackling Problems in the Community Dear NW Member I have heard from the West Midlands Regional Representative with The Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network about a Cabinet Office Questionnaire that is looking at what makes people get involved in tackling problems in their community - something close to the heart of Neighbourhood Watch. The Representative states: “The Cabinet Office (note: not the Home Office) has asked The Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network to help with circulating the following message as widely as possible, i.e. not just within Neighbourhood Watch but across the wider public as well. Would you please pass it on within your Force area to as many contacts as you have including, of course, your Neighbourhood Watch colleagues and others that you (or they) feel may be interested.” The message reads: “The government is looking at how local communities, the police, local criminal justice agencies and other local partners can best work together to reduce crime, raise community confidence, improve information to local people and lower the fear of crime. The review also is looking at what makes people get involved in tackling problems in their community. A key part of the review is to gather together evidence - and the voices, experiences and opinions of the public are key to this. The review team has put together a Have Your Say questionnaire which covers some of the key questions of the review. If you’d like to give us your views you can fill it in on line and we’d be really interested in what you have to say: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/crime . If you would like a hard copy of the questionnaire, please email haveyoursay@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk giving your full postal address, or you can write to us to request a copy at Freepost, PO Box 1748, Croydon, Surrey, CR9 4XR, again stating your full postal address.” In forwarding this email, I am simply striving to keep you all informed. My apologies to those who might consider this contact something of a nuisance. Kind regards, Barry Armitage MESSAGE dated Monday, 10 March 2008 08:18 ... Subject: Warwickshire County Council Email Alert: Friday 7th March 2008 07/03/08 Doorstep Callers Spinney Hill area Warwick Local residents are advised to think carefully before accepting offers of work from door to door trades people offering a variety of services including block paving, gardening, and fascia work. The Trading Standards Service advises residents not to make instant decisions on the doorstep and to seek a range of quotes from local tradespeople, preferably on the basis of recommendation. 07/03/08 Pyramid Letter Scam Leamington Spa A resident has reported receiving a pyramid scam letter. The letter claims that the sender was able to turn £87 in to £43,540 by following a series of simple steps. The schemes are called pyramid schemes because there are hundreds of people at the bottom paying cash to join and just a few at the top. The money works its way up to a few people at the top and it's only those people that get the financial benefits. The scheme would only deliver benefits for those that join at the bottom if there were an infinite number of people also prepared to join at the bottom, which would push those who had joined earlier further up the pyramid. As this won't be the case, sooner or later the scheme runs into trouble and the cash dries up. People who have put money in then lose it and can't get it back. It is a mathematical impossibility to deliver benefits to all through such schemes. The Government estimates that up to £100 million a year could be lost by people who respond to bogus promotions. 07/03/08 Pet Scam Warwickshire A consumer contacted the service after responding to an advertisement for puppies in a local free ads newspaper. The consumer contacted the seller by email and was told to deposit £130 into a bank account in Cameroon. The puppies were then to be delivered from an address in Aberdeen. The consumer then did some research on the Internet and found that several other people has paid money to the seller for puppies that had subsequently never arrived. 07/03/08 Home Security Warwickshire The Trading Standards Service has been alerted to the activities of traders operating door to door in the Warwickshire area offering intruder alarms. The homes of elderly people are being targeted and complainants have reported receiving direct presentations and being sold £3,000 alarm systems that are not worth even £1,000. If you are concerned about home security, speak to your local Police Crime Prevention Officer. 07/03/08 Suspicious Automated Call Coleshill A resident has reported receiving a call that purported to be from her home phone service provider. The automated call told her she had not paid her telephone bill and requested her credit/debit card numbers. Warwickshire Trading Standards cannot verify if this was a genuine call or not, but advise consumers not to provide their personal or financial details to anyone over the phone, where they themselves did not initiate the call. If you receive such a call and believe it to be genuine, phone the company back yourself using a telephone number printed in a directory - not a number they may give you. 07/03/08 ‘Excellence’ Award Rugby A Rugby business has reported receiving a phone call from someone claiming that the business had won an 'Excellence' award. The business queried the award after the caller asked for two payments of £59 for a 'nomination entry' fee. The business asked what the payments were for and the caller told them it was for a nomination pack. Needless to say the business then put the phone down on the caller. Businesses are strongly advised to check and query all unsolicited invoices and associated telephone calls. 07/03/08 On-line Banking Notice Warwickshire Email users are warned to beware of an on-line banking 'phishing' email circulating. The email asks the recipient to click on a link in the email to complete a mandatory Commercial Banking Online Form. Never click on a link in an email from anyone you don't know or trust. Never provide your personal or financial details in this way. Emails are not secure and your risk becoming a victim of fraud, identity theft, or exposing your PC to malware (viruses trojans etc.) Useful links For more information on doorstep scams, visit our website: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/doorstep . Simon Cripwell Neighbourhood Watch March 2008 News Here are the Crime Figures from the Police for the last 3 months. They were updated immediately following the 4 Mar Parish Council Meeting: De Ja Fe 0 1 0 Affray 0 1 0 Assault (common) 1 0 0 Assault with ABH 1 2 2 Burglary 4 2 6 Criminal Damage 3 5 6 Damage to vehicle 1 2 0 Possession of drugs 0 1 1 Theft from Motor Vehicle 2 0 0 Theft of Caravan 1 0 0 Theft of Motor Vehicle 2 1 3 Theft other than from Vehicle 15 15 18 Totals. Barry Armitage is still not fully back to his desk and PC Draper has helped provide the figures. Due to some delay in the figures being received the number of incidents might not be complete. The criminal damage to residential property seems to be increasing, in several cases by the throwing of heavy stones etc against windows and doors. Damage to cars while parked also continues. Thefts of tools etc and heating oil have also taken place, along with the Co-op being targeted twice in a month. Please report anything even vaguely suspicious. The Neighbourhood Watch AGM will be held in the Conservative Club on Monday 21st April at 8pm. All welcome. You can obtain information by e-mailing andy@smithdom.force9.co.uk . If you are aware of any incidents, please telephone the Police (414111 or 999) or your Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, preferably within the hour. Iris Herwin 840745  Frankie’s Bit When planning your holidays do you subconsciously think maybe it would be easier if I chose a country where people speak English? So imagine what it would be like then if you HAD to move to a foreign country where not only the language was a problem, but the way of life and customs quite different. The number of people coming to our lovely country with such problems is on the increase and may indeed already be one of your neighbours. I myself find it quite easy to be neighbourly to people I know and like but more difficult when they not only come from another country but do not speak very good English and seem to have a way of life very different from ours. So perhaps now is the time we should face this problem and make real effort to welcome and be a good neighbour to EVERYONE in our street. On another subject, have a glance at our Police Station next time you pass: it is being used a lot more and you may well see a police car parked. The notice board has been smartened and displays the latest up to date crime bulletin for the area. Finally, if you want to know more about IDENTITY THEFT, DISTRACTION BURGLARIES and how they can affect you, just come to the AGM on Monday 21st April 8pm at the Conservative Club. Frankie Spray, Chairman, Neighbourhood Watch 01789 841819 frankiespray@aol.com Barry J Armitage Neighbourhood Watch Officer, South Warwickshire Community Safety Team, Community Protection Directorate Warwickshire County Council Tel. 01789 444544; Fax. 01789 444688 e - BarryArmitage@warwickshire.gov.uk w - www.warwickshire.gov.uk Tell us what you know, not who you are The Crimestoppers Charity works in partnership with your local police to solve crime. If you have information about a criminal or a crime, then call us on 0800 555111. We will not ask your name, trace or record your call. We guarantee your anonymity. You may receive a cash reward. previous page March 2008 Safety Page last month