| Country crime |
There has recently been an
increase in high value acquisitive rural Crime including:
Theft of Building Materials Theft of Fuel/Oil Theft of
Metal/Machinery/Power Tools Theft of rural vehicles/quad
bikes/4x4s/Trailers/Tractors
Offenders are targeting open
area compound/units and attack the padlocks of diesel/fuel
tanks. Due to the variety of equipment stolen, it is likely that
there is more than one offender involved. Goods carrying
vehicles are also being stolen possibly in preparation for
further thefts.
Intelligence Analysts have studied the
reported crime and the vast majority are occurring at night-time
(between the hours of 20:00 to 07:00 hours). Offenders are
thought to be using unclassified roads and may utilise vehicles
with a commercial livery.
To tackle this high visibility
night time patrols have been taking place on our area utilising
as many uniformed staff as possible.
Officers from the
Neighbourhood policing Teams, Rural Crime Team and other
departments supported by their supervisors have changed shifts
to carry out targeted patrols through to 4.am and beyond.
This Increase is not limited to our area or Wiltshire as a
county, however we have suffered from this increase.
Your
Help is required!
Please be vigilant particularly at
night, and report anything suspicious no matter how small it may
seem. If at all possible vehicle registration numbers should be
recorded.
If you think a crime is being or about to be
committed then ring 999
For any other information ring
the Wiltshire Police Non-Emergency line on 0845-408-7000
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| Farm Bulletin |
A very Happy New Year to you all
and I hope that you have had a fantastic time over the festive
season. Obviously the weather conditions are probably hampering
you from getting on with the day job, but hopefully this will
come to an end very soon. The year has got off to a slow
start generally for the Rural Crime Team. But things are now
starting to get busier. Landrover Defender Thefts We had
a spate of Landrover Defender thefts back in October 2009 and at
that time there were 8 stolen in one month. Then things went
quiet again. There were two stolen in December and there have
been three stolen thus far in January 2010. There is no pattern
to the thefts and it is happening across the county. The Rural
Crime Team are taking these on, and will be liaising with
adjoining Forces to deal with the problem. Please ensure that
you lock up your vehicles. For all the focus is
predominately on Landrover Defenders there have been thefts of
other 4 x 4 vehicles too. Hare Coursing Hare coursing
incidents have slightly decreased on this time last year. There
have been 20 reported incidents. There have been three offenders
arrested on 27th December 2009, and they have been charged with
Daytime Trespass in Pursuit of Game, and waiting to attend
court. Credit Crunch Not surprisingly the credit crunch
has lead to an increase from farms and rural areas. We have
noticed in the north of the county an increase in thefts of
Cotswold Stone. Across the county as a whole there have been
several incidents reported of theft of bales of hay. Diesel and
oil thefts are still occurring. To date in 2010 I am not aware
of any, however the price of fuel is reported to steadily rise
of the next twelve months and so we are expecting thefts of fuel
to rise.
There are alarm systems on the market for fuel
tanks and if you want advice regarding these then can you
contact the rural crime team inbox or leave a message and I will
get the crime prevention officers to get in touch. Further to
this we are receiving increased reports of Deer Poaching,
unfortunately it tends to be after the event and there is the
evidence of the poaching activity but the offenders are long
gone. Metal Thefts We have seen a decline in metal thefts
following some good arrests at the end of December 2009. This
will no doubt start up again after the effects of the arrests
have worn off. Keep sending in information regarding the
suspicious vehicles/people etc, without this we don’t get a full
picture of what is going on. Crime Prevention I have two
Crime Prevention Officers in my department that are happy to
come to your homes/farms etc and carry out security surveys. So
if you do want any crime prevention advice can you send an
e-mail to the rural crime team inbox:
ruralcrimeteam@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk or leave a message on our
voice mail 08454087000 x 723548. You may find the below
advice useful regarding property marking.
PROPERTY
MARKING Every year police recover thousands and thousands of
pounds worth of property from the hands of criminals. One of the
biggest drawbacks in an investigation is trying to trace the
owners of this property. Being able to trace the ownership of
the property not only helps the owner to get the property back,
but it can also provide evidence that is vital in securing
convictions. There are several different ways of marking
your property depending on the type of object you want to mark,
and modern technology is introducing new and better systems all
the time. Before marking any valuable items (those individually
identified on your household insurance) check with your
insurance company that they are happy for you to do so. What
should you mark? Anything you would like to have returned to you
be it valuable or sentimental. MARK IT – PROTECT IT
Property Marking Solutions These solutions are a recent
addition to the property marking field, and contain artificial
DNA, UV, Micro dots, or a mixture of two or three of these
elements. The clear solution is easily painted onto even small
items of property, and the unique code is registered to you
individually. Once dry the solution is only visible under UV
light. When you have marked your property and registered your
contact details on the company’s database, this makes the
property traceable and identifiable to you and only you.
Ultra Violet Pens Quick, easy and cheap, marking your
property with your postcode and house number with a UV pen is
one of the most popular ways of making your property
identifiable. However, it is not suitable for small items, such
as jewellery, and has to be checked every 12 months as it can
fade, especially if exposed to heat or sunshine.
Engraving/Etching Property can be engraved by using scribing
pens, ceramic marking pens or electric hand engravers. Etching
applies a unique reference number to your property using a
chemical solution and stencil. Both of these methods are
permanent and visible and can be used to mark china, glass,
bikes (except high performance aluminum frames), lawnmowers,
engines and other heavy metal objects.
Stamping/Punching
Stamping your postcode on sturdier items with a hammer and a set
of punches is a permanent way of marking them. This method is
especially suitable for tack MARKING YOUR PROPERTY MAKES IT
TRACEABLE AND LESS ATTRACTIVE TO THIEVES WHICH EVER METHOD OF
PROPERTY MARKING YOU USE LET THE CRIMINAL KNOW YOUR PROPERTY IS
IDENTIFIABLE. Use the stickers that are supplied with a
purchased product, or ask one of the Wiltshire Police Crime
Prevention Officers for a poster.
Immobilise
Registering your property helps to combat the sale of stolen
goods by alerting the second-hand trade of ownership through the
unique markings you have on your property, the most common of
which is the serial number. We recommend registering your
property and details for free on the Immobilise website
(http://www.immobilise.com). This website is used by police
forces throughout the country to help identify the owners of
lost or stolen goods. I hope you found this useful. I will
be on leave for the next two weeks, so can you forward anything
to the rural crime team inbox.
A reminder of our contact
details: PC Tony Miles: 0845 408 7000 ext 730819 or mobile:
07817689640 PC Mark Randle: 0845 408 7000 ext 724515 or
mobile: 07952989999 PCSO John Bordiss: 0845 408 7000 ext
739817 or mobile: 07968942116 PS Andrea Faircloth: 0845 408
7000 ext 723421 or mobile: 07855265975 E-mail address
ruralcrimeteam@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk If you want to leave
a message on our voice mail telephone 08454087000 x 723548
Thank you again for all of your support, keep it up, and I will
be in touch soon.
PS 693 Andrea Faircloth
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| Poaching |
Poaching and hunting have
traditionally been viewed by many people as a relatively
harmless activity, with the subsequent impression that these
crimes have little impact on the wider community. Some people
tend to conjure up a fuzzy image of a wily countryman secretly
outwitting the local landowner in order to take a couple of
hares or a pheasant now and again for the family table.
Unfortunately the truth is considerably more unpleasant. Such
criminals will also threaten, intimidate and use violence
against farmers and landowners who try to stop them and they
will cause considerable damage to fencing and crops whilst
engaging in their activities. In addition to this many of these
criminals are connected to larger teams of burglars and
thieves. Sometimes the hunters / poachers will steal items they
come across themselves and other times they will pass the
information on to other criminals that they know, thus
encouraging more criminal activity into our area. Many of the
animals which they hunt or chase will suffer traumatic and
unnecessarily painful deaths or injuries and, in the case of
coursing activity especially, considerable amounts of illegally
obtained money changes hands between the participants. There is
also some realistic potential for such criminals to steal
certain types of dogs from local residents for future use in
illegal hunting and associated activity. The vast majority of
such criminals who we intercept and arrest do not come from
Wiltshire and have no connection to the area, other than through
their illegal hunting activity.
These reasons are why
Wiltshire Police have recently taken a particularly firm stance
against such persons and we always seek to arrest and prosecute
them where sufficient evidence exists. We will always aim to
respond promptly to calls reporting such activity to us. We do
not want these criminals to see our countryside as a soft touch
for their various unlawful acts. Therefore, if you see any
activity taking place at the time that you feel could be
illegal hunting with dogs or poaching, then please report this
to us on 999.
Please contact PCSO John BORDISS at the
Rural Crime Team for more information on Farm Watch and Horse
Watch.
Thank you and kind regards Sarah
PC 2377
Sarah Watts
Community Beat Manager Marlborough Rural
West NPT Marlborough Police Station Tel 0845 408 7000
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