NEWSLETTER

January 2000

Sandra Burton, Neighbourhood Watch Liaison Officer

Billericay Police Station, Billericay CM12 9AB 01277 631212 ext 45431

Who's Who

Police Inspector: Steve Tutton - 01277 631212

Community Liaison PC Kevin Hopton

Officer Direct Line - 01268 244028

N W Liaison Officer: Sandra Burton 01277 631212

ext 45431

Crime Prevention Colin Mead: 01268 532212

It is probable that much of this crime was drug related. If you think that drug dealers and drug takers are in your area, please call Kevin Hopton on 636454 or Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. you do not need to give your name. Your information could stop a crime or even save a life.

Crime Figures

Burglary

21 November: Mountnessing Road 29 November: Mountnessing Road

03 December: Stock Road 08 December: Invicta Court

24 November: Beams Way 04 November: Greens Farm Lane

29 November: Longtail 02 December: Prince Edward Road

05 December: Church Street 06 December: Laindon Road

Theft of Motor Vehicles

05 December: Norsey Road

Theft from Motor Vehicles

13 November: Windmill Hights 13 November: Abbotts Ride

15 November: Buntwood Close 13 November: Jacksons Lane

13 November: Jacksons Mews 15 November: Queens Park Avenue

14 November: Lampern Crescent 21 November: Mountnessing Road

19 November: Radford Way 23 November: Outward Farm Road

24 November: Hatfield Drive 22 November: Prince Edward Road

01 December: Radford Way 06 December: Station Car Park

24 November: Hollyford 30 November: Mayflower Road

06 December: Selworthy Close

Items for Sale

Haynes Home Security Manuals: £3 (£9 in the shops)

Golf Marking Kits: £4 (£6 in the shops)

Tamper Proof Tax Holders: £1 each

Call us at the Police Station or come to a meeting if you wish to purchase any of them - all great value and make good Christmas gifts!

Door Step Callers are still out and about

We are still receiving calls that door step callers are active in our area. One case in particular was very distressing where an elderly gentleman felt intimidated by two men who called on him and asked if they could check his roof for loose tiles. The callers said there were loose tiles and tried to charge him £750 to fix them. Eventually he paid them £200, but said that he felt very in- timidated by their approach and manner.

If you are approached by door step callers just say ‘No thank you’ and ask them to leave. If they become intimidating, call the Police on 01277 631212. Please look after the elderly people in your area, they can be had over by such bully-boy tactics. If you do see elderly neighbours being approached by door step callers, please go and lend some help and moral support.

Please report any cases of suspicious callers to Kevin Hopton, your Community Liaison Of- ficer on 01268 244028, you do not have to leave your name or number.

Crime set to rise by 30%

Well, that is what the national press, TV and Radio reports are saying. There are many theo- ries why the crime rate is expected to rise, but the most obvious reason will be drugs. Drug re- lated crime is rising across the country and I know a lot of people take the view ‘if they want to take drugs, that’s up to them’. By the problem is much deeper. Drug addicts need money to pay for their habit (up to £300 per day); they cannot hold down a job so stealing is the easy way to get money. If you see what you suspect is drug dealing in your area PLEASE call the Police direct, Kevin Hopton or Crimestoppers (see the number on the edge of this sheet), again you do not have to leave your name or number. You could prevent crimes in the making and even save the life of one of these people.

CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111

Diary Dates

Members meeting dates for 2000 are:

9 February; 12 April; 7 June; 9 August;

11 October and 6 December

Everyone is welcome at the Billericay Football Club at 8pm.

We got bigger in 1999

Yes, well Christmas does that to all of us!

But what I really meant is Billericay Neighbourhood Watch got bigger. Our distribution of Newsletters went up from 4,000 to 4,400 which is great news.

We are very fortunate in Billericay to have the sponsorship of two local companies, Decibels and Crystal Print, who between them foot the entire printing bill for all our newsletters. Other schemes in the county do not have such support and can produce only a handful of newsletters, so once again, many thanks to both our sponsors for their invaluable and continued support.

As you know we are an independent organisation, but please do bear in mind the support that our sponsors give us and if you can support them, please do. They put a lot of time and money into the community and it would be nice if we could give two local companies our support.

So Christmas is over . .

Now you have got lots of nice news presents! So keep hold of them and mark them.

We do keep banging on about property marking, but with good reasons, such as:

Basildon Police station have a huge room full of recovered stolen property, but they cannot return to the rightful owners because they have no idea who the owners are. They rarely get a burglar to own up to where the they stole the goods from, usually because they cannot remem- ber.

When the Police stop a van they is full of HiFi and videos it is impossible to prove the goods are stolen if they are unmarked - the usual explanation is ‘got then at a boot sale’. Now if the goods are property marked the Police could check their records and even contact the address on the markings.

Property marking helps in both ways and takes only minutes to do.

If you need help, call us. We have the equipment and the instructions and it’s all free.

What do we want to do in 2000?

We are always looking for ideas on how to promote community spirit. Here are some of the things we plan to do, but please let us know if you have any ideas, we would love to hear them:

Quiz Night - get your brains in gear.

BBQ - in the summer time at the Police Station.

Streetwise - a return visit if we can fill a bus

Billericay Fun Day - we need ideas for thid year

Treasure Hunt in the town

and of course we will have our regular meetings at the football club, at which every one is welcome.

Thank you for the new Answerphone!

We can now hear you better with our new answerphone, which has been kindly donated by one of our watch members. The machine is on when we are not at the station - just call 01277 631212 ext 45431 to leave a message for us - we will call you back.

Happy New Year from

Neighbourhood Watch, Billericay Police, Crystal Print and Decibels