By Inspector Maxine Cilia, Spelthorne Borough Commander
I write this on one of the saddest days, after the announcement of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. A very poignant mo-ment in history, marking the end of the life of a remarkable wom-an who influenced and touched the hearts of so many. May Her Majesty rest in peace.
We are continuing to see opportunistic theft from motor vehicles. Often offenders will test car doors to see if they open in the small hours of the night and when they get lucky, they find a trove of treas-ure left behind. We are also aware that they may be using signal blockers, so if you are used to your car locking as you walk away, please check that this has happened by watching if the wing mirrors recline or listening for the confirmation beep that the alarm has set. Bank cards, expensive designer sunglasses and money seem to be the favourites, with many of the cards being used almost immediately online and in local stores. Please spread the message. Don’t leave valuables overnight in cars. A more recent spate include smashing windows to remove items such as laptops and handbags so please do not leave valuables on show.
We are also looking at thefts of tools from vans. At this time these seem to be confined to large hotel car parks in the Sunbury area. The tools taken are often worth over £5000 so we would really like to know more about these offenders and where the tools go to be sold and converted to cash. There is no single method of gaining entry to a van but often the thieves cause serious damage. If you own a van with lots of valuable tools, consider defensive parking up to a wall etc or extra locks or alarms. If you can remove the tools from the van at the end of the day this is an even better solution.
Burglary season is just about to start, and we have seen a small amount of uplift as the evenings grow darker. It is easier to spot a house that is in darkness and burglars spot these opportunities. As always, I ask everyone to conduct a review of their security, updating and renewing lighting, think about remote cameras, video door cameras, alarms and timers for lights and televisions. Also look at your access to gardens and alleyways, securing gates with a lock and removing gardening tools which can be used to
gain entry. Please reconsider keeping high value items of jewellery in the home and if you do, look at securing them in an approved fitted safe. Portable and removable safes are not sufficient. They are just like putting all your valuables in a carrier bag ready for collection! Think where you keep your valua-bles. The most obvious place to look for your valua-bles is in the bedroom especially in the bottom of the wardrobe, so that is really not a safe place to hide them.
Parcels are being removed from delivery addresses on a regular basis, where they have been placed on doorsteps. It is now the norm to have a parcel left on a doorstep but really this is not safe, consider asking a neighbour to take it in or get it delivered to a work address. The best way to have safe delivery of par-cels is a parcel box which is locked outside or deliv-ery to a parcel delivery locker. These crimes are almost impossible to detect and it is unlikely they will be investigated by police due to that lack of lines of enquiry.
StreetSafe -‘StreetSafe’ is a pilot service for any-one to anonymously tell us about public places where you have felt or feel unsafe, due to environ-mental issues, e.g. street lighting, abandoned build-ings or vandalism, and/or because of some behav-iours, e.g. being followed or verbally abused. Please note: ‘StreetSafe’ is not for reporting crime or inci-dents. Please take time to report these locations to us as they are discussed with our partners and we look together how we can make these locations safer for everyone.
https://www.surrey.police.uk/notices/street-safe
Please remember your information could be that final piece of the puzzle which helps us to solve a crime or identify an offender. So please get in touch. If you do not want to wait on the 101 num-ber, please use the FaceBook messaging service on our Spelthorne Beat Page or use the on-line report-ing via the Surrey Police website. If it is urgent and you feel threatened or need help immediately as a crime is in progress – always call 999.
Thank you for everything that you do for us and your community. Keep safe and well.
Inspector Maxine Cilia, Spelthorne Borough Commander.