Who's Who

August Members Meeting
Sorry to everyone who planned to attend the meeting on 8 August. Because of a double booking at the football club we had to cancel the meeting at the last moment.
October Members Meeting
Our October members meeting will include a talk by Clare Burrows, Leader of Basildon Youth Service. The talk will be of special interest to all parents with youngsters between the ages of 10 to 17 and are concerned about the increasing risk of drug taking in the Basildon and Billericay areas.
We are working with The Basildon Youth Council, Billericay Youth Council and the Police to find a solution to drug problems and we would like to hear your views. Please come along and get your views and concerns heard.

Ask who you are talking to
One of our members was brave enough to call me with the following tale about door step callers and the need to be on your guard. I will call them Mr. & Mrs. X Mr & Mrs X needed some work done on the outside of their house. The work needed doing urgently and they obtained the name of a local builder who had done a good job on a friend's house in the recent past. The arrangement was made that the builder would arrive to give a quote at 10:00 the next morning. Next morning a builder showed up and provided a verbal quote of £120. They thought it was a bit steep, but they were in a hurry and the builder did come highly recommended, so they accepted. The builder could start right away, but needed £60 for materials and asked if he could have that in cash up front. Mr. & Mrs. X did not have that amount of cash in the house and the builder offered to drive Mr. X to the bank to get the money. Off they set and while on the way to the bank the builder asked if he could have £100 instead as he needed to pay off another bill and had no cash with him, all of the money would come off the total anyway, so it did not matter, did it? While Mr. X and the builder were at the bank, the real builder showed up at the house! Realising what had happened Mrs. X called the bank to warn her husband, but too late, he had used the cash machine, handed over the money and the 'builder' had gone - never to be seen again. All too late Mr. & Mrs. X realised they should have taken more care and checked things out. Thank you again to Mr., & Mrs. X for being brave enough to tell us what happened; they told the tale in the hope that it may save others suffering the same fate.
Some points to remember:

After bogus callers - Bogus Text Massagers It has come to our attention that some mobile phone users are receiving a text message saying something along the lines of: "Please call me on 09011500065 Urgent".
This number is a premium rate number charged at £5 per minute. When the number is dialled you hear an engaged tone. This is in fact not a genuine engaged tone but a recording which encourages them to call again whilst also being charged for the call. Each time you connect you are charged the minimum rate. This scam is happening to BT Cellnet, Vodophone, Orange and One 2 One customers. Just as a reminder, all telephone numbers starting 090 are Premium Rate numbers, which means when you call them you get billed at a much higher rate, in this case £5 per minute.

BBQ and Open Day
The BBQ and Open Day at the Police Station scheduled for Sunday 2 September was cancelled due to lack of interest (we received only 10 responses). We did not think it fair to all the other people who had offered support by contributing time and money to attend with such a low turnout.

Billericay Police will hold a Recruitment and Open day on Sunday 7 October from 10 am to 4 pm.

Missing person
Just a word of thanks to all those who helped to look for the missing person earlier in August. We are very pleased to report the gentleman in question was found safe and well in London.

I have tried a new format this month, I would be pleased to know if you like it or not; please call, write or e-mail your comments. Thanks.

Burglary
12 reported cases this period. Seven Garage burglaries, four House burglaries and one Artifice burglary (where a man conned his way into someone's home and stole jewellery). Value of goods stolen this period was £15,350 and £120 of reported damage (seems very low). Streets involved were Hollyford (2), Grosvenor Gardens, Westbourne Gardens, Norsey Road, Greens Farm Lane, Copppford Close, Stock Road, Buckwyns, Valley Road and Newlands Road, Crescent Road.

Theft From Motor Vehicles
18 reported cases this period. Theft of number plates seems to be on the increase. Value of goods stolen this period was £3,330 and damage to the value of £2,270 was caused by the thieves. Streets involved were: Stock Brook Manor, Radford Crescent (2), Crescent Close, Westbourne Close, Waitrose Car Park (2), Burstead Golf Club (3), Queens Park Country Park, Tyelands, Passingham Avenue, Trinity Road, Pilgrims Public House, Valley Road, Radford Way.

Theft of Motor Vehicles
9 reported this period. The value of vehicles stolen amounted to £61,400, including one motor cycle. Streets involved were: The Railway Public House car park, Radford Crescent, Waitrose Car Park, Radford Way (2) Beams Way, Meade Close, Leander Close and The High Street.

Criminal Damage
45 reported incidents this period. Window smashing seems to be the latest curse from the local vandals. Amount of damage caused this period was: £9,430 and the areas in most trouble were: Princess Close, Queens Gate Mews, Norsey Road, High Street (6), Parklands, Chapel Street (2), Mountnessing Road (2), Greens Farm Lane, Lake Meadows (2), Radford Crescent, Knightsbridge Walk, Lorrimore Close, Coxes Farm Road, Passingham Avenue, Beams Way, School Road, Langham Court, Uplands Road, Billericay Cricket Club, Perry Street, Bell Hill Close, Holly Court, Grange Road and Morris Avenue.

It is probable that much of this crime was drug related. If you think that drug dealers users are in your area, please call Kevin Hopton on 01268 244028 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.

Do you know someone who wants to join Neighbourhood Watch? If you wish to join your local scheme or start a scheme in your area, please call us at the Police Station. We will be pleased to give you the name of the local Co-Ordinator or help you start a new scheme.

Crime Cannot Flourish in a Community that Cares.