DAY 55: Milton Keynes rural neighbourhood team attempt to sign up whole village to Thames Valley Alerts (and pretty much succeed!)

The Milton Keynes rural neighbourhood team began the winter phase of their 100 days of action on Monday (13/1).

A team of seven PCSOs, headed up by PCSO Kirsty Martinson, attempted to sign up a whole village to the Thames Valley Alert messaging service.

Hanslope was the chosen destination with a population of almost 2500. Every address was visited and those residents who were in were signed up and for those who weren’t, some details were left about how to sign up themselves.

If you have done so already, you can sign up to Thames Valley Alert or Country Watch Alert by following the links.

Country Watch is a free Thames Valley Alert messaging service specifically for rural and farming communities and businesses across the Thames Valley. As with Thames Valley Alert, you are able to choose whether you receive messages via email, text or telephone.

By signing up to the general Thames Valley Alert messaging service, you will be notified of all policing and crime issues in your area but don’t forget to choose the ‘Country Watch’ option on the community membership list when you register if you still want to receive rural crime related news too.

DAY 42: Rural crime prevention event at Countrywide Chipping Norton

Last Wednesday (11/12) PCSO Angela Alford from the Banbury Rural neighbourhood team hosted a crime prevention event at Chipping Norton’s Countrywide store. 

Giving advice: PCSO Angela Alford talks to local people about crime prevention

Crime Prevention at Countrywide Chipping Norton

“It was a successful day offering crime prevention advice and giving out lots of farm packs and information; particularly a lot of advice on shed and garage security” said Angela. “I spoke with people from the Banbury area and people who live further out in West Oxfordshire who had seen the Thames Valley Alert for the event and decided to come in and see so it was a very well attended event.”

 

The Thames Valley Police website has recently been updated with advice around building security including, outbuilding, farmhouse and general home crime prevention.

Meanwhile, PCSO Lana Smith visited Crouch Farm with the area’s Crime Prevention and Reduction Adviser Jayne Taylor and security marked several items for the owner. 

Security marking at Crouch Farm

If you are interested in security marking your property, you can get in touch with your local neighbourhood policing team either via email (use the postcode search function on the website to find your local team) or call 101 and ask to speak to your local neighbourhood team.

In the meantime, the CRE-Mark and Smartwater websites can offer some advice about unique security property marking. 

Valuables can also be registered on the Immobilise website. Immobilise is a national database all police forces use when they have found stolen property. If your stolen valuables are registered on the database you are more likely to have them returned to you, if they are recovered by police. You can register all sorts of valuable property on the site and it is free to use!

DAY 40: TVP work with MOD to eliminate people walking their dogs near livestock in West Oxfordshire

The Cherwell and West Oxfordshire Local Policing Area (LPA) began the Force’s winter phase of the 100 days of action to tackle rural crime.

Once again, each of the rural policing areas within the Thames Valley will conduct five days of intensive, proactive policing activity devoted to tackling the crimes which effect the farming and agricultural communities.

While the operations throughout the summer concentrated on communicating with the farming communities, raising awareness of the work we are doing and sharing specific crime prevention advice  to help you protect your land and business premises, the winter phase will focus more on the criminal offences and the people who commit them.

Your local police officers will be targeting offenders and suspicious people and vehicles conducting high visibility patrols, particularly during the dark evenings and mornings, and there will certainly be opportunities for partnership patrols between Thames Valley Police officers and farmers, land owners and game keepers.

Today saw the Banbury Rural Neighbourhood officers team up with the Ministry of Defence at Barford St John and patrol the area to try and eliminate people exercising and running their dogs in the fields where livestock are being kept. Livestock worrying and death as well as hare coursing have been reported in the area recently.

‘

Worrying’ is when a dog attacks or chases livestock in a way that could cause injury, suffering, abortion or the loss of produce.

It is a criminal offence:

• For a dog to be kept off a lead in a field of sheep
• For a dog to worry livestock on agricultural land
• If an owner or person in control of the dog at the time allows the dog to worry livestock on agricultural land

Advice:

Dog owners should remember to keep their pets under control at all times and ensure they are kept on a close lead when walking anywhere near livestock. Farmers, although they may be reluctant to do so, can shoot a dog which is caught worrying sheep and dog owners could be liable to prosecution and a heavy fine!

If you see someone who is walking their dog off the lead near livestock, or see a dog who is being allowed to worry sheep, this is a crime in progress and you can dial 999 straight away.

The team also visited six farms to arrange security marking of tools and garden items for later in the week. To speak to your neighbourhood team, use the postcode search on the website and send them an email, or dial 101 and ask to speak to someone from your local neighbourhood policing team.

DAY 21: Aylesbury Vale charge 3 for burglary during 100 days of action

The Aylesbury team had a packed ‘day 21’ of the 100 days of action. A proactive operation around the Buckingham villages, Great Brickhill, Wing and Ivinghoe areas resulted in 3 men being arrested and subsequently charged with committing a burglary non-dwelling at Buckingham University.

The men, 33 year-old Kieron Panton from Blythe Close, Bedworth; Michael Walker, aged 23 and from Acacia Road, Nuneaton; and Neil Sugrue, aged 33, also from Acacia Road, Nuneaton, have all been released on bail to attend Aylesbury Magistrates’ Court until 24 September.



High visibility patrols in police 4x4s



The team also spent the day with the TVP Crime Prevention and Reduction Advisor for Buckinghamshire, signing over 80 people up to Thames Valley and Country Watch alerts as well as offering crime prevention advice.



PCSOs signed people up to Thames Valley Alerts messaging service at a local golf club



The Buckingham District neighbourhood team visited addresses in Nash and Great Horwood signing people up to the alerts messaging service and handing out the very useful, little book of big scams and offering advice about cold calling. The little book of big scams can be downloaded from the TVP website and contains information about identity fraud, investment, banking, door-to-door and mobile phone scams (and loads of others!) as well as hints to help protect yourself and what to look out for against these types of crime.



Armed with the little book of big scams, the Buckingham and District neighbourhood team offer crime prevention advice



Country Watch crime prevention stand at Wyevale Garden Centre




Going farm-to-farm, speaking with local farmers about the work that will be going on throughout the week



Later the team joined the Aylesbury Vale District Council Community Safety Partnership at Foscott Auctions to talk to local farmers about Country Watch and some of the work the team will be doing over the next week!

DAY 9 – ANPR in hotspot areas across Chiltern and South Bucks

The team in Chiltern and South Bucks have been conducting Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) road side checks in intelligence lead, ‘hotspot’ areas.

The aim of using ANPR is to both disrupt any criminal behaviour in progress and prevent crime by being visible to the surrounding community. Any vehicles picked up by the ANPR cameras are stopped and checks are carried out on both the car and driver and passengers.

Although officers may be specifically on the look-out for rural crime activity and intelligence, quite often other offences are discovered as a result of the operation, as Insp Emma Burroughs explains: “Chiltern and South Bucks LPA have conducted 12 ANPR operations at various rural locations within the Local Policing Area (LPA).

“The intention is to carry out high visibility patrols to detect and deter criminals who are committing crime on our area.

“The rural crime figures are low for this LPA so the ANPR operations focus on all crimes affecting the LPA.  In excess of 2000 vehicles have passed through these sites, 110 of those vehicles have been stopped.

“The results have been for traffic process i.e. no insurance and the vehicles seized, or no keeper details and a number of interactions have taken place with motorists to promote the LPA’s work around rural crime.”

ANPR camera set up

DAYS 1- 4, Milton Keynes kick off 100 days of action!

Monday (22/7) saw the start of TVPs 100 days of action to tackle rural crime in the not-so seemingly rural LPA, Milton Keynes.

For the first of their five day stints, the Rural Milton Keynes Neighbourhood Team decided to intensively patrol 'off the beaten track' locations in high visability off-road vehicles, conduct Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) operations in hotspot locations and visit all 80 farms on the area to offer specific crime prevention advice.


Patrolling off the beaten track

 Here is what happened...

One of the most isolated villages in the neighbourhood area, Newton Blossomville, was targetted by criminals who committed 17 burglary and theft from vehicle offences both in the village and just over the border into Bedfordshire.

Since then, two men have been arrested and charged with 17 counts of conspiracy to steal. The two men Wilson Turney, aged 20, of High Street South, Olney and 21 year-old Scott Cannon, of Tabbard Gardens in Newport Pagnell appeared at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court today (26/7), Turney has been remanded in custody and Cannon has been conditionally released on electronic tag both until the 1 August.

A 15 year-old boy from Bedford Road, Olney has also been arrested on suspicion of four counts of theft of theft from motor vehicle, one count of burglary dwelling, six counts of burglary non dwelling and three counts of attempted theft from a motor vehicle. He has been released on bail until the Tuesday (30/7).

The ANPR operation resulted in six vehicles being stopped and dealt with for road traffic offences.

Although strictly speaking, these crimes don't come under the TVP 'rural crime definition', this is an example of how intensive operational work can not only build intelligence on the crimes Thames Valley Police are focussing on, but also detect other crimes which are of a serious concern to the community.

Sergeant Andy Paulden, who has led the team this week, said: "We're fortunate that we have a relatively low number of rural crimes happening within our area compared to other areas in the Force, however we acknowledge that when these crimes, or any other crimes do happen, they have a profound effect on the farming and rural community.

"We will be carrying on our high visibility patrols with the hope of disrupting and catching criminals who are of most concern to the area."

More information about rural crime, Country Watch and the Thames Valley Rural Crime Partnership can be found on the Thames Valley Police website.