Safer Neighbourhood Team - Evesham Rural South - West Mercia Police

Burglaries

Dear All,

We are investigating reported car key burglaries and we want to reassure residents we are doing everything we can to trace those responsible. 

If you’ve seen anything suspicious or have information that might help with enquires, please call 101.

You can also report a crime here: 

https://www.westmercia.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ 

The information we receive from the public is essential in bringing criminals to justice. 

Important advice and information:

Car key burglary is when an offender breaks into a home with the specific aim of stealing car keys and the vehicle from the property.

Perpetrators often target specific vehicles, based on demand and value. If a criminal is targeting a certain vehicle, they will also be targeting the owner, looking for easy ways to exploit their security and get to their keys. 

If you think you are being followed or see any suspicious vehicles lurking, take the registration number and report it to us.

Further crime prevention methods to deter car key burglars:

  • Keep your keys somewhere safe and out of sight

  • If you can, lock your car in a garage

  • Fit a high-quality alarm to your vehicle

  • Consider additional security systems such as immobilisers and visible security locks 

  • Always take your keys with you when leaving your vehicle unattended

  • Keep your keys safe and concealed in public places

  • Make sure doors, windows, the boot and sunroof are locked and secure before leaving your car

  • If there are more than one vehicle at your property, park the lesser valued vehicle behind the more expensive one on the driveway

  • Also make sure you keep your house doors and windows locked

  • Install a high-quality burglar alarm 

  • Install an exterior security light 

Thank you for your help. It is only by the police and the public working together that we can prevent and detect crime. 

Catalytic Converter Thefts - click here

Burglary and the Darker Nights -
• Dark evenings can provide perfect cover for burglars who can easily spot an open window in an unoccupied room, see your valuables through open curtains or blinds, or try their luck with an unlocked door while you’re distracted. Try to make your house look as occupied as possible when you are not there. Use timer switches to control lighting or radios
• Don’t leave your house and vehicle keys in the lock or on a side table in view of a window making it easy for a thief to fish them through your letterbox
• Always lock your front door from inside - in particular UPVC front doors that have handles, as they are often left unlocked when people are in their house. 
• Check your UPVC or Euro cylinder door lock to see if it is snap resistant. I should be stamped with a three star Kite Mark. If it is not, you get the lock changed to either a SS312 Diamond Approved Cylinder, TS007 3 Star Kite marked Cylinder, or a 1 Star Cylinder with 2 Star handle for maximum protection. For more information contact the Master Locksmiths Association,.
• Keep front and back doors locked at all times and keep keys and valuables out of sight and reach from cat flaps, letterboxes and downstairs doors and windows
• Close, and ideally lock, all windows when you're not in the room – approximately one in four burglaries in the county still happen because doors have been left unlocked or windows left open
• Make sure your door is well lit and fully visible from the street – dusk-to-dawn lamp adaptors are available from DIY stores
• Check existing lighting is in good working order and replace any faulty equipment – remember to check batteries in torches and smoke alarms
• Keep shrubbery and hedges at the front of the house pruned to below one metre – remove any cover for a burglar to work unseen and give your neighbours every chance to spot something suspicious
• Keep curtains closed at night – if you are away, ask a trusted neighbour to close them for you, and open them again in the morning
• Secure sheds and outbuildings with good padlocks and consider fitting alarms. Lock all tools and ladders away securely
• Use 24hr timer switches to power lighting or radios

Cold Mornings -
Although vehicle crime is low across West Mercia, every winter the force receives a number of reports from drivers who have had their cars stolen after leaving the engine running, while they wait in the warmth of their home for it to heat up and defrost the windscreen.
Some vehicle owners nip inside for just a few seconds to collect a bag or finish the last mouthful of their breakfast coffee - but that’s all the time an opportunist thief needs. To ‘freeze out’ the thieves, West Mercia Police advises motorists to:
• Clear windscreens with de-icer and a scraper
• Sit in vehicles while the heater de-mists the windscreen
Drivers who ignore this advice are taking big risks. Thieves will drive around residential areas looking for likely targets - when they spot a vehicle with its engine left running on a drive or outside a home, it’s there for the taking.
One person will be dropped off, gets into the target vehicle and simply drives away.
Many of the vehicles are never recovered, and some - especially high value models such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi - may be shipped overseas.
It is also worth remembering if your car is stolen when keys have been left in it, you may find your insurance will not cover you. If your house keys are stolen along with your car, your home is then vulnerable too.
So, this winter, don’t give criminals an easy ride by leaving your car running unattended.

Operation Snap

Have you heard of Operation Snap? 
As part of Operation Snap, members of the public can report and submit digital footage showing potential traffic offences. This can range from driving dangerously or carelessly to overtaking on solid white lines, using a mobile phone while driving, ignoring traffic lights or dangerous driving around other road users, such as horse riders and cyclists.

Your submission will be sent to West Mercia Police where the evidence will be reviewed by one of our road traffic police officers.. Operation Snap is a secure online facility which allows submissions of video and photographic evidence relating to driving incidents that members of the public have witnessed. Please use link below for more information. https://www.westmercia.police.uk/police-forces/west-mercia-police/areas/west-mercia/campaigns/campaigns/2019/operation-snap/ 

For more information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions section or email OpSnap@westmercia.pnn.police.uk

 

Sign up to Neighbourhood Matters

Click here for www.neighbourhoodmatters.co.uk

Neighbourhood Matters (NHM) Messaging Service

The neighbourhood policing team would like to remind residents to sign up to Neighbourhood Matters (NHM) messaging service.

This is a free messaging service where you will be able to see information posted by your local policing team. There will be latest news stories, crime trends for your area, good news stories, crime prevention advise and up-coming police events.

You can either log into Neighbourhood Matters at www.neighbourhoodmatters.co.uk/#SignUp and register yourself, or email the neighbourhood team at eveshamrs.snt@westmercia.police.uk with your name, address, email address and contact number. They will be more than happy to register you on your behalf.

PC 22058 Ben Trowman

PCSO 40267 Karen Kempton.

 

The Broadway Parish Council is delighted to announce that it now has both a Facebook page and an Instagram page to provide an additional way of sharing events and information with the residents of Broadway.