Your Chief Co-ordinator, Tony Dixon, recently reported these conclusions from a recent Neighbourhood Watch meeting he attended:
128 reported crimes were reported in the parish of Tanworth in Arden during first five months of 2018. June figures are not yet available. This compares with 105 in the same period of 2017 – an increase of 22%.
2017 itself saw an increase of 7% over 2016.
It is vital that residents report all crimes to ensure the authorities get an accurate picture of all the crimes being committed.
Burglaries in our parish for May 2018 are 24% up on June 2017, vehicle crime is up 16%, and anti social behaviour is up 18%.
In 59% of cases no suspects have been identified and, accordingly, no further action is being taken in respect of these crimes.
Police resources are stretched everywhere and, as ever, they are reliant upon good on the ground information being fed to them by the ever watchful residents of the Parish.
The advice from the police is that when residents see something out of the usual make a note of numbers, descriptions, perhaps take a photo with your ever handy phone and relay this information to the police on 101. This is the number to ring when residents do not believe an actual crime is in process. If a crime is in process ring 999.
Some of the residents in neighbouring villages are following suspect vehicles around their patches with mobile phone pictures.
WHILST THIS CAN BE USEFUL THE ADVICE IS NEVER PUT YOURSELF INTO A POSITION OF DANGER.
Tony observes that Claverdon are very active in their fight against local crime and are in the process of trying to raise sufficient funds to establish a scheme of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras on the various roads which enter the village, they are investigating the option to create a charity, (gift aid benefits) but need to raise between £40,000 and £50,000 to establish the scheme.
This equates to about £30 per household if Tanworth Parish was to try something along similar lines, BUT we have more roads and lanes so costs may be double that figure, if we were to go along similar lines.
Elsewhere, Tony notes Neighbourhood Watches continue to encourage residents to receive the crime messages issued by the police and in some instances they relay these around small groups of e-mail addresses. See elsewhere on this site how to sign up for these messages.
In Tanworth we suggest the quickest way to receive information is to get it direct from the police, to wait for it to be re-transmitted from your Watch simply loses time in the receipt to such information.
Finally, where is the best place to park your car overnight? The advice is in a locked Garage.
Is your Garage full with other household items? Then leave your keys out of range of wireless signals, or risk your car disappearing over night from your drive!
(Source: Tony Dixon)