Neighborhood watch
Aug 12th, 2009 by admin5
MESSAGE FRON CHIEF SUPT NIKKI WATSON
Dear Parish / District / County Councillor / MP / NHW Co-ordinators,
As I write this I am watching the snow falling and I am starting to feel very Christmassy
A lot has happened since the last time I wrote including the tragic death of Chief Superintendent Sandy Padgett who many of you will know from the time she spent at Yeovil before moving to Taunton on promotion. This has meant I’ve been temporarily responsible for both Somerset policing areas, an arrangement that will remain in place until March when a new commander for Somerset West will be appointed.
Many of you will know or have worked with my deputy Superintendent Mike Prior. Mike has been selected for a role at HQ and will be leaving us at Christmas. I wish him all the best in his future role and thank him for his support over the last two years. Mike is replaced by Superintendent Matt Ayres who joins us on 6th January 2010.
I’ve recently been doing a lot of work around police response times; trying to improve our service in this area. One of our Policing Pledge commitments is to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds, deploy to emergencies immediately giving an estimated time of arrival, getting to incidents as quickly and safely as possible.
In urban areas, we aim to arrive within 15 minutes and in rural areas within 20 minutes. I’m happy to report that our District performance has risen from 74 to 88.1 percent for rural areas and from 82.6 to 94.6 percent in urban areas. We will do our best to continue to driving down these times even further. I want you to be confident that will respond as soon as we reasonably can.
I don’t want us to just turn up and deal with the immediate problem; I want us to stay in touch; keeping victims of crime updated with the progress of our enquiries. My family and I live in East Somerset and I want everyone to experience the same high standard of service as I would expect.
Our “feedback” survey forms are now firmly established and those that have come so far, I’m pleased to say, have been positive about the way my officers are delivering our Force values of:
- Putting the public first
- Today’s business today
- Quality counts
- All staff will be professional, friendly and interested
The latest customer satisfaction and confidence reports both indicate that Somerset East continues to improve in these key areas.
I am further pleased to be able report that crime within the Somerset East area has reduced by 7.2%. This means that there have been 842 fewer victims of crime since April 1st 2009 compared to the same period the previous year. At the same time our overall detection rate has improved to 27.5%, a full percentage point higher than this time last year.
As a result of some exemplary work with our communities and partners, coupled with prompt action and robust offender management by my officers and District Targeting Teams I am able to further report that the priority crime types for the BCU are all showing reducing trends, for instance;
- Burglary -23.4% (107 less burglaries)
- Theft of motor vehicle -10.5% (26 fewer car thefts)
- Theft from motor vehicle -34.1% (-306 crimes)
- Serious acquisitive crime -24.8% (-183 recorded offences)
The detection rates for all these offences are also significantly improved with Somerset east well placed within the upper quartile for the force.
I’m sure that you will agree that these are superb results and I would like to thank you for the part you have played in achieving them.
The districts Safer Neighbourhood teams continue to work with our communities to address the anti-social and nuisance behaviour that can so easily affect our quality of life. Again there is good progress to report i.e. Criminal damage has been reduced by 5.1%, meaning 139 fewer victims of this type of crime. In addition there have been a number of highly successful coordinated projects aimed at permanently reducing some of the most serious ASB issues that some residents of the district have been exposed to.
An area that currently concerns me is violence against the person. This is one of the few areas of our work that, despite much work by all agencies concerned, is showing an increase year to date (+51 crimes). The vast majority of the recorded rise is attributable to low level violence i.e. common assault but nevertheless I am treating this as an urgent priority.
An example of our close working relationship with the local authorities is the closure of the King’s Arms public house in Crewkerne following the recent stabbing. The landlord is accused of inflicting a knife wound to the victim and is currently within the criminal justice system. The local community felt it was wrong for the landlord to still be operating his pub whilst the matter was dealt with in the legal system. In partnership with the local authority we were able to close the pub. This is the first time in Avon and Somerset that this type of legislation has been used, the same for South Somerset District Council so this is going to be a very interesting time.
I have tasked my analysts and beat teams to do all they can to improve this situation in relation to violent crime and they are using a number of methods, such as those shown below, in order to stop this rise and, indeed, reduce overall offending in this area.
- trading Standards test purchasing program
- review and intervention by licensing
- the presence of PCSO at key times
- high visibility, coordinated operations by police and partners i.e. Operation Festive at Christmas
- more sharply focussed targeted deployment of police response units at peak periods.
Operation “Relentless” was keenly focussed on anti-social behaviour at Hallowe’en. This is traditionally our busiest night of the year; 55 officers were involved which resulted in 19 arrests (many for assault), 12 ASB forms issued, 9 alcohol seizures, 28 licensed premises visits and 4540 leaflets distributed.
I travelled to Bolton in September to receive the National Tilley Award for Problem Orientated Policing on behalf of Somerset East District and Mendip District Council for our success in the fight against scrap metal theft (Operation Fragment).
Working with local councils and metal dealers, officers identified risk areas and provided presentations to likely victims on how to improve security. Because of the improved working relationships with metal dealers, intelligence on suspects and suspicious vehicles started to come to our attention. This resulted in over 60 stop checks and 6 arrests in a 2 months period alone. An example of this excellent partnership approach follows:-
A call was received that the occupants of a red van were in Evercreech stealing scrap metal. District Targeting Team officers immediately deployed to a scrap yard at Pylle. The red van was at the location and unoccupied. The vehicle was watched and a suspect returned to the vehicle. He was arrested along with two associates a few minutes later. The stolen scrap metal was recovered and later identified. The proceeds of the sale were also seized. Officers later attended a national ACPO scrap metal seminar where their work was recognised as best practice and taken back to other forces. This example shows how much we can achieve when we work together.
One of our entries for next year’s award will be the Community Speedwatch scheme which is believed to be the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. This scheme was first trialled in Ash, which had long experienced an unacceptably high number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit through the village. It was hoped that by involving the community in speed enforcement, the message that speeding would not be tolerated by residents trained by and working closely with their local police.
Since its humble beginnings, the scheme has mushroomed and now there are over 35 Community Speed Watch teams throughout South Somerset with 250 volunteers. These committed teams have monitored over 750,000 vehicles and has contributed to a 42.3% overall reduction in speeders in the areas covered. This provides a major contribution to road safety.
We have also embraced Cold Calling Zones. There are currently three established zones on the District at Street, Frome and Martock. Street is the largest scheme covering the whole of the town. Schemes are set up in partnership with the police, district councils, housing associations, sheltered housing providers and local District Councillors. An operational order for the District has been set up to trigger action when calls are received from within the zones regarding rogue traders and cold callers.
I can give you a few examples of good news stories showing how my officers continue to regularly and diligently bring offenders to justice.
One concerns a vehicle follow instigated by a District dog handler who was suspicious of a four wheel drive car towing a caravan. This later proved to be confirmed as a stolen vehicle. Other marked units were requested including the Dorset helicopter. The vehicle eventually abandoned in a field, two offenders decamped. One offender lost a shoe in the process. Thanks to the direction from officers on the ground the helicopter located a heat source. Officers moved in and a persistent offender was detained in fields for the theft of the motor vehicle and caravan. He was also wanted also by Devon and Cornwall and Bristol police. Another suspect involved was arrested on suspicion of theft of the BMW.
On 12th October an art dealer was charged with 40 offences involving, theft, deception, criminal damage and fraudulent trading encompassing all those offences leading to in excess of 80 detected crimes. The dealer took money from victims throughout Somerset and the surrounding area to supply art which he failed to deliver. In other cases he obtained art on the pretext that he would sell on behalf of the owner and did so but failed to supply the monies obtained. In other cases he supplied complete forgeries resulting in excess of 80 complaints to the police. These offences occurred from 2006 to 2009. The matter was referred by district to the Economic Crime Team for investigation and a vast amount of evidence and witness statements gathered by the investigators from ECT and F District. The offender is to appear at South Somerset and Mendip Magistrates Court.
I strongly believe in our role promoting community cohesion and am keen to get involved in projects that promote this. A good example is the recent “kick Racism out of Football” weeks of action. The Constabulary joined forces with other agencies and the Western Gazette to launch our “What Does ‘Achieve by Unity’ Mean to You” competition. I was one of the judges and was delighted with the winning entry; a poster which celebrates diversity and inclusion created by a 12 year old local boy. I hope he enjoys his prize of a match day visit to Yeovil Town Football Club.
At this time of year, it’s not unusual to see a “blip” in recorded crime as opportunists seek to take advantage of insecure cars or houses with presents etc on view. This doesn’t mean that people need go ‘above and beyond’ rather they remain aware of the sensible, practical everyday things that can be done to avoid becoming a victim of this sort of crime. For instance, leaving a light on at home or ensuring presents are left in your boot and therefore out of sight in the car. I would ask for any help that you may be able to provide in getting people to think about the security of their property at all times.
I would take this opportunity to reassure that Somerset East is a safe area in which to live but I am not complacent and will strive to make our communities even safer. Thank you for reading this letter and for your help in achieving the success we have won. Please also pass on my thanks to your wider communities. I would be grateful for any feedback at Nikki.Watson@avonandsomerset.police.uk.
You can keep up to date with what’s going on in your area by visiting our Force website at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk.
Have an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas period and my best wishes for the New Year.
Bobby Van Carpenter
The Bobby Van Scheme
This is to promote awareness of Owen McCaffrey the Bobby Van Carpenter who is based in the Community Safety Department at Yeovil Police station.
The Bobby Van Carpenter is funded by a Police charity and is available to carry out a survey to properties of all victims of crime, vulnerable people and anyone over the age of 65
The Bobby Van Carpenter can also fit door chains and provide lock upgrades to windows and doors.
The service is free but a card will be left if people wish to make a donation to the charity that funds the scheme.
If you would like further details Owen by telephoning 01935 402231 (Mobile 07795617682) Monday to Thursday 0700hrs to 1630hrs. When contacting Owen please indicate that you are a member of Neighbourhood watch
Please note that this scheme is open to all members of the public and not just Neighbourhood watch members.
Please pass this message on to any older neighbours who do not have a computer.