DAYS 45 AND 46: Cherwell and West Oxfordshire host tack marking weekend

As part of the100 days of action campaign tacking rural crime in Cherwell & West Oxfordshire the team hosted two events over the weekend for members of the public in the local area to get their tack marked.  

On Saturday (14/12) the team attended Countrywide Farmers and marked a total of 14 items and also have details of local farmers who would like their equipment marked in the new year. 

So far the team have 30 saddles lined up to be tack marked in the new year. On Sunday (15/12) the team attended Fernhill Farm in Milcombe for some more tack marking as well as hosting the tack marking event in Bicester. 

Security marking a saddle at Countrywide

Horse tack, trailers and horse boxes are regularly targeted by thieves. Marking tack is something that could help to deter a would-be thief. Thieves are less likely to steal valuable tack that can be traceable to an owner.

If you would like information about marking saddles with a unique transponder, please visit the Datatag website.

Join us on Country Watch to receive rural crime updates and safety messages.

DAY 44: PCSOs continue to visit farms in the West Oxfordshire area and security mark tools and equipment

Friday (13/12) saw the Banbury Rural team head out to a wood yard near Hook Norton and a farm in Clifton who have both been victims of crime within the last 12 months.

As well as offering some general crime prevention advice the officers, armed with a CRE-Mark pen, were able to security mark some valuable tools and equipment to improve security around the premises.

CRE (Crime Reduction Enterprise) products are used to deter thieves and prevent property from being stolen using the overt property marking technique. 

Using CRE-Mark silver marker pens to security code valuable tools and equipment

The CRE-Mark silver marker is used to write your postcode and house number of first two letters of your house name in a clear and obvious place on your property. The marker is permanent, visible to would be thieves and if your property does happen to get stolen, the items are easily traceable back to the rightful owners.

Officers who are visiting farms over the next few weeks are also offering to go through a farm security assessment. The security assessment is for farm owners, managers, employees and land owners to help them improve the security of their premises. 

The security assessment has been put together by Thames Valley Police’s crime prevention and reduction advisors and contains advice on low cost security solutions in a common sense approach.

In the assessment you will find crime prevention advice about:

• Controlling access to farms
• Tools
• Metal theft
• Agricultural machinery protection
• Field security
• Livestock
• Wildlife crime
• Out buildings
• Home security

You can now view and download the farm security assessment from the Thames Valley Police website 

DAY 43: Banbury rural neighbourhood patrol and check scrap metal dealers across Cherwell

Last Thursday (12/12), the 100 days of action team patrolled the Cherwell area looking for scrap metal collectors. It also gave the officers and opportunity to speak with Cherwell District Council and update them on the new legislation and offences surrounding scrap metal.

The new Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 came into force on the 1 December 2013. The act has a number of changes to the existing legislation and these are as follows:

•  All individuals and businesses must complete an enhanced application process to obtain a scrap metal dealer license. The local authorities have the power to turn down unsuitable applicants. 
•   Local authorities have a new power whereby they can revoke a license
• All sellers of metal are required to provide personal identification at the point of sale which should then be recorded by the scrap metal dealer.
• There are now new powers for the police and local authorities to enter and inspect scrap metal sites.
• There is now a new central public register, hosted by the Environment Agency, of all individuals and businesses licensed as scrap metal dealers
• The definition of a scrap metal dealer has been broadened to include motor salvage operators.
• It is now also an offence to buy metal with cash to travelling metal collectors.

All the scrap metal dealers spoken to by the team last Thursday were all in order and held up to date paperwork and insurance!

Tim Hollamby from Datatag assists with the CESAR marking

PCSO Chris Kidd assists wit the event at PA Turney, Bicester

Throughout the day the team also held a CESAR (Construction Equipment Security and Registration) marking event at PA Turney in Bicester. The CESAR scheme have proved that having CESAR registration markings fitted to farm machinery hugely reduces the risk of having it stolen. Thieves generally don’t like to risk being caught and will more likely go for something unmarked or unprotected!

Other benefits of CESAR marking include:

• Easily identifiable machinery
• Swift identification should your machinery get stolen
• Swift return of stolen machinery to the rightful owner

Thames Valley Police are still offering a 20 per cent discount on CESAR kits to residents living in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.

The standard price for the CESAR kit is £149 plus VAT. The Thames Valley Police discount allows residents to have the kit installed for £88 plus VAT.

Find out more about the CESAR scheme on the official website.

 

To take advantage of this offer, call the Datatag booking line 01784 778 310 and mention Thames Valley Police.

                                                                                                  

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 26: Mounted section help spread the rural crime word around Wycombe

Today’ s operation was once again spread around the whole Wycombe area, advising farmers, business owners and employees and even delivery drivers about the importance of calling police if they see anything suspicious.

The Local Policing Area Commander, Superintendent Houalla, also joined officers and visited farms and businesses in the North Dean and Lacey Green areas, reaffirming the need to call police on 101 if there is anything that causes concern. He was very keen that those he spoke to make full use of the rural crime reduction services and marking systems that we offer.

The mounted section (horses to you and me!) were also part of today’s operation, patrolling around Speen and Loosley Row and spreading the rural crime prevention message. By a stroke of luck they were close to a primary school at home time, making the day of the children leaving school!



A CESAR marked tractor



The local newspaper was also involved and will be helping to spread the message that the High Wycombe’s Rural Police teams take rural crime very seriously and local people are being actively encouraged to call the police if they suspect criminal activity. Police will attend and deal with those suspected of being involved in criminal activity very robustly.

Tips to consider: 

• Have you spoken to your employees about reporting suspicious activity? Young workers may be particularly apprehensive about reporting suspicious activity just in case in turns out to be nothing. Remind them it doesn’t matter if it does turn out to be nothing, police officers will decide and deal appropriately. Nobody will get into trouble for having a hunch!

·         If you see anyone acting suspiciously, don’t approach or confront them, particularly if the perpetrator is seen to be hare coursing or poaching with firearms. Call police straight away instead.

·         When reporting a crime or suspicious activity details such as exact location, direction the offenders travelled off in, how long ago you saw them and descriptive details like height, build, clothing, hair colour, skin colour, car registrations are all really helpful to not only help officers find them but link other jobs that have been called in if the descriptions match

The Wycombe team’s numbers for Thursday’s operation are as follows:

31 farms visited

28 crime reduction packs delivered

20 people signed up to Thames Valley Alerts

24 people signed up to Country Watch

11 signed up to Horse Watch

54 Country Watch gate signs put up

14 items of property marked using CRE Marking

15 items of property marked using Selecta DNA

190 pieces of horse tack marked and...

23 pieces of agricultural machinery marked using CESAR!

If you are interested in security marking your valuables, you can do so via the immobilise website. Police forces across the country check stolen items they find on the immobilise website to try and trace the real owner. So if your property is stolen, police have more chance of getting it back to you once it is found.

Find out more about securing farming tools and property on the Thames Valley Police website.