Belhus

Update

The Belhus Neighbourhood Policing team is currently made up of one Police Constable and 4 Police Community Support Officers. The team regularly liaise with other agencies to ensure any problems or issues local residents have are addressed.

We hold monthly neighbourhood meetings and beat surgeries to discuss any problems or issues that may have arisen from the local residents. We encourage people to get involved with these groups, to add your voice and opinions and to help direct how we can serve you best. Should you wish to attend please contact us for details or look on the ‘Events’ tab on the Belhus webpage.

During the neighbour meetings, we address issues that you have made a priority in your neighbourhood. We aim to act on the issues that matter the most to you. As a result of the neighbourhood meetings, it has been identified that dwelling burglaries and vehicle crime are a priority for the ward.

Burglaries

Burglary, on the whole, is an opportunist crime. A burglar will select their target because it offers them the best opportunity to carry out crime undetected and with the fewest number of obstacles in the way. A building that presents itself as unoccupied and insecure is far more likely to be targeted than one which is properly secured.

If you have:
- side gates open
- accessible windows open
- ladders left out, allowing access to otherwise inaccessible windows
- garden tools available to force entry
- untrimmed hedges or high fences preventing natural surveillance

You are making access to your building far simpler and is an indication to the prospective burglar that it's worth a second look.

Residents of multi-occupancy dwellings or flats should be mindful not to grant entry to people via an entry phone system if they do not know them and to be cautious of people seeking to 'tailgate' them into buildings.

Security systems on modern cars are now so good that a thief can only steal them if they have the keys. This means that the modern day car thief has to resort to breaking into your home if they want to steal your car. However, following these few simple steps will make the thief's life more difficult:
- make sure you deadlock your front and rear UPVC doors
- don't leave your keys in the door lock
- keep your keys where a thief is unlikely to find them

Vehicle Crime

Like burglary, vehicle crime is an opportunist crime. To help prevent you becoming a victim of vehicle crime we advise that you;
- don't leave personal belongings or loose change out on show
- don't leave expensive items such as mobile phones and sat navs in the car, even if in the glove compartment
- ensure your car is properly secured when you park it
- if you have a steering lock etc, make sure you put it on every time you park

For further advice on crime reduction, you can visit http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/

During the fiscal year of 2009/2010 there were 48 reported burglaries within the Belhus ward. This increased slightly to 51 reports, for the period 2010/2011. In relation to vehicle crime (theft from motor vehicle and theft of motor vehicle), for the year 2009/2010 there were 83 reports. Reports for the period 2010/2011 increased to 126. Operations were put in place and patrols were increased to detect and prevent vehicle crime.

Anti-social behaviour is an issue that is raised by the community and for the period 2009/2010 we received 171 reports of anti-social behaviour incidents. For the period 2010/2011 reports have considerable decreased to 108 reported incidents.

The team have been visiting their individual schools for some time now and this seems to be working well, the PCSOs continue to patrol their schools during start and finish time where possible. If you have any issues regarding the schools please do not hesitate to contact myself, Pc 71045 Munden, or speak to your local PCSO during the schools start and finish times.

PCSO 71845 Jones looks after Shaw Primary School, PCSO 71916 Monksfield looks after Holy Cross Primary School and PCSO 71976 Williams looks after Dilkes Primary School. This enables the pupils, parents and staff to become familiar with their local PCSO and if they have problems of bullying and other anti-social behaviour, they will deal with complaints accordingly. We also attend assemblies to liaise with pupils to advise and update any relevant information which may be of interest to staff and pupils.

If you see or hear anything that raises concerns then please feel free to contact the team. If it has drawn your attention then it will no doubt be of interest to us as well. All information can be provided anonymously.

It is armed with this information that we are able to obtain warrants from the courts and put operations in place that reduce such things as anti-social behaviour, therefore providing a better quality of life to the majority of law abiding citizens.