Dear All
This message maybe long but it is worth reading for yourselves and also to show to you neighbours especially if they are vulnerable in some form.
CRIMINALS DON’T GO AWAY ON HOLIDAY AND THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES SO BEWARE OF SCAMMERS, SCAMS, DOORSTEP CRIME AND BURGLARS …
SECURITY NOTES
For those of you who are already on the NextDoor and other Apps will have seen that there have been several incidents in the area so please review your security at your premises and when you are out and about.
These incidents include items being stolen, teenagers being mugged and robbed, suspicious people trying to gain entrance to houses and buildings and individuals testing front doors of houses to try to gain entry, and also fly-tipping is back again.
POLICE ADVICE
https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/advice/10-principles-crime-prevention/10-principles-crime-prevention/10-principles-crime-prevention
These principles can assist you in reducing the opportunity for crime to occur at your home, your place of work or your business. It’s not a case of having to use all of the 10 Principles at once, you may find using just one of them could help you or it may be a combination of several of them. When you are looking to improve security around your home or business, the best way to approach it is to look at your home or premises as if you were the offender. Identify the weak spots, vulnerable areas and concealment points and prioritise the areas for improvement.
The 10 Principles of Crime Prevention are:
1. Target Hardening
- Making your property harder for an offender to access.
- Upgrading the locks on your doors, windows, sheds and outbuildings
- Fitting sash jammers to vulnerable doors and windows
- Using secure passwords to prevent criminals hacking your online accounts
- Ensuring that a potential target is out of view.
- Not leaving items on view through your windows – i.e. laptops, phones, keys, bags
- Putting your vehicle in the garage if you have one and not leaving valuables on display
- Being cautious about what you post online as it may be used to identify or locate you offline
- Removing items that may help commit an offence.
- Not leaving tools and ladders in the garden and clearing up any rubble/bricks
- Keeping wheelie bins out of reach, as they may be a climbing aid or help transport items
- Making sure that bricks and rubble are cleared up
- Reducing the profit the criminal can make from the offence.
- Security marking your property
- Marking your property in such a way that others will not want to buy from the thief
- Not buying property you believe or suspect to be stolen
- Looking at measures that will control access to a location, a person or object
- Locking your doors and windows to both your house and your vehicle
- Ensuring that fencing, hedges, walls and other boundary treatments are in a good state of repair
- Putting a security system in place at a commercial site (entry barriers, security guards, ID cards)
- Improving surveillance around homes, businesses or public places to deter criminals.
- Removing high hedges / fences at the front of your home that allows an offender to work unseen
- Consider adding CCTV to a commercial site or public place
- Establishing a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in your street
- Ensuring your property and wider community looks cared for.
- Ensuring that graffiti and domestic/commercial waste is cleared up
- Reporting issues with fly-tipping or broken street lights to the relevant authority
- Working with the police and local authority to close a footpath
- Changing our habits by setting rules and positioning signage in appropriate locations.
- Introducing a rule that the last person entering / leaving should lock the door and remove the keys
- Informing visitors to commercial sites that they must report to reception on arrival
- Informing users that a particular site is closed between certain times and should not be accessed
- Increasing the likelihood that an offender will be caught to prevent crime occurring.
- Making use of dusk to dawn security lighting is in place and in working order
- Using good quality CCTV and/or alarm systems, especially on commercial sites and public places
- Upgrading security to delay an offender, meaning they have to spend more time to gain access
- Deterring an offender or deflecting their intention.
- Using timer switches to make our homes look occupied if vacant after the hours of darkness
- Running youth diversionary schemes with partner agencies
- Referring offenders to drug rehabilitation programmes
CONTACTING THE POLICE…
REMEMBER, CALL 999 IF:
- a serious offence is in progress or has just been committed
- someone is in immediate danger or harm
- property is in danger of being damaged
- a serious disruption to the public is likely
- If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000.
- Or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.
- If you're in danger but you can't talk on the phone, you should still call 999, then follow these instructions depending on whether you're calling from a mobile or a landline.
- If you're in danger, call 999 and try to speak to the operator if you can, even by whispering. You may also be asked to cough or tap the keys on your phone to answer questions.
- If you don't speak or answer questions, press 55 when prompted and your call will be transferred to the police.
- Pressing 55 only works on mobiles and doesn't allow the police to track your location.
- If you don't press 55 your call will be ended
- If you don't speak or answer questions and the operator can only hear background noise, they'll transfer your call to the police.
- If you replace the handset, the landline may remain connected for 45 seconds in case you pick it up again.
- Calling 999 from a landline automatically gives the police information about your location.
- For reporting a crime, anti-social behaviour or neighbourhood concerns to getting in touch with an officer, you can contact your local team.
- Your report will be dealt with by our control room in exactly the same way whether you report it online or call 101.
IN AN EMERGENCY:
ALWAYS CALL 999
ALWAYS CALL 999
PLEASE share this with your neighbours and friends.
MET. POLICE DOCUMENTATION:
The following web page is definitely worth a read even though it has been sent out before:
https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/media/5858/how_secure_is_your_home.pdf
DOORSTEP CRIME
What is doorstep crime?
https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/business/trading-standards/scams-and-doorstep-crime
- Many scams don’t involve face-to-face contact, but sometimes the conmen come to your door. They could be pretending to be from the water board, power company and even the police. Some might claim they just happen to be working nearby, and have spotted a small problem with the house that can be easily fixed. They then often say they’ve found more problems, and the final bill can be enormous.
- The LBHF work in this area is partly coordinated by London Trading Standards, who give guidance on spotting these rogues and keeping safe from them. It’s your home - with the right precautions, you can keep it safe.
- LBHF have a booklet called ‘Don’t deal at the door’ that provides useful advice, and we also have ‘No cold calling’ stickers that can be displayed to discourage such traders. The leaflet is available here on the London Trading Standards website to read or download. Please email doorstep@lbhf.gov.uk or call us on 020 8753 1081 if you want a hard copy or one of the stickers.
NOTE - NO SUCH PROJECTS
ARE KNOWN TO EXIST.
ARE KNOWN TO EXIST.
LONDON TRADING STANDARDS
https://www.londontradingstandards.org.uk/projects/london-trading-standards-launches-new-campaign-as-doorstep-crime-increases-in-the-capital/
- Doorstep callers are not always as genuine as they first appear. Some are criminals. These people knock on your door then lie, cheat and trick you into giving them money for work they say needs doing in your house or garden.
- These callers may tell you that repairs need to be done to your home urgently. This work is often unnecessary, and prices charged are exorbitant.
- The work they say needs to be done usually relates to property maintenance, such as roofing, guttering, driveways, general building work and gardening.
- They will often find more and more work that needs to be carried out.
- They may have put a card or leaflet through your letterbox advertising their services.
- Some doorstep callers pretend to be somebody official, perhaps from a water or gas company or the council, saying that urgent work needs to be undertaken.
- Other callers may try to sell you things, like security systems or mobility aids, or loft insulation.
- With the recent massive increases in gas and electricity prices, there are more cold callers offering insulation, double glazing, solar panels and heat pumps. The message is the same - never deal with cold callers on your doorstep.
PROTECTING VULNERABLE NEIGHBOURS
Trading Standards Officers and the Police hear from hundreds of Londoners who are victims of criminals calling at their homes. Some have lost their life savings, or are left frightened to live in their own homes after they have fallen prey to the worst type of callers – rogue builders who damage your home and then charge a fortune to ‘repair’ it; distraction burglars who gain entry to your home to steal valuables or plan a burglary. Many hundreds more will be too embarrassed to report the crime.
Often those caught out are those living alone, the elderly and the otherwise vulnerable. Anyone can play their part in preventing this type of crime and in helping your neighbour to avoid becoming a victim.
Some doorstep crime is mild – making misrepresentations to sell overpriced goods on the doorstep, for instance. At the other extreme, it is life changing and LTS calls on Londoners to help protect their neighbours.
It is best to be proactive:
Encourage them to use doorstep security – chains or intercoms and ‘no uninvited traders’ notices.
Talk to them about the nature of some callers and ensure they know they can call you if there is a problem.
Report suspicious activity – postcards or leaflets offering building services posted through your letterbox; individuals knocking at houses, particularly those in slight disrepair (a favourite target for rogue builders) – to Trading Standards immediately.
If this doesn’t seem to have worked, see if your neighbour needs assistance:
If they seem to be in an uncomfortable conversation with someone at their front door, find a way of catching their attention, as it may make it easier for them to end the conversation or the caller may leave rather than have witnesses.
If you see men working on a vulnerable resident’s house, driveway or garden, go and chat with your neighbour to make sure they are OK and that the workers have been engaged safely. Danger signs are:
- If they have been employed after cold-calling or dropping a card through the door.
- If they have asked for cash payment up-front or have insisted on taking the neighbour to the bank to get cash out.
- If they were initially engaged for a small job, but then mentioned other work that ‘needs doing urgently’.
- If they have given no business details that can be checked. (If they have given a limited company name, check that the company exists and is not recently incorporated – searching ‘company information’ will get you to the right page on the Companies House website).
- Report any concerns immediately to Trading Standards and also, if the criminal activity is ongoing, to the Police.
- If you can SAFELY record details of vehicles, or take photographs / video of the men, please do so – it could be vital evidence – but do not consider confronting them unless you are sure you will be safe.
