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| Hampshire Constabulary |
Alcohol as usual appears to pay a significant role in this fortnights crime figures. With most of the vehicle crime several assault allegations and a quantity of nuisance reports being entirely related to the consumption of alcohol.
Last weekend mindless vandals damaged a number of cars in the Holbury area in the early hours of morning likely when walking home from pubs.
Unfortunately there is no evidence to progress these crimes due to there being no witnesses or forensic evidence.
However police will as a matter of course be liaising with licensees as part of our duties and if a premises is found to be serving alcohol to drunks or persons underage then measures which in extreme cases can include suspension of licence will be taken.
When persons are found in the street drunk and abusive then police will deal with these incidents robustly and in the last 14 days there have been a number of arrests and persons given £80 fines for threatening and abusive behaviour and several persons have been reported for summons to appear in court for this behaviour also.
There have been a higher number of burglaries in this last 2 weeks however the circumstances of these incidents are specific to the location and not a general trend for residents to be overly concerned with (1 incident was youths who broke into a house to assault another male, all persons were of a criminal nature and all 3 arrested, another was were know youths under 10 years broke into a next door neighbours house with property being returned in full, in another incident an unoccupied premises was entered and the last was a break to a business unit were nothing was taken )
The other 2 incidents related to garages/sheds and involved the theft of tools and a motorcycle.
Garages and sheds often have less security than the house they belong to so please consider strengthening these locations by addition of extra heavy duty locks (if the location is in a secluded spot then more than one padlock will be a good deterrent), good outdoor lighting so that offenders will be vulnerable to being seen and identified and lastly by ensuring that all valuable property is identity marked (postcode, name etc), photographed and importantly if there is a serial number that you have a record of it you can pass to police so we can search for the stolen item.
Many items especially cycles can’t be returned to their owners even though recovered by police simply due to the fact we have nothing to go on to reunite them with the victim.
The main thrust of complaints as in past is of nuisance anti social behaviour were youths (or drunken adults) act in an inappropriate manner.
Some of these are trivial such as youths on garage roofs and can and will be dealt with by informal advice however some are simply unacceptable and deplorable.
These include one incident of someone using a church doorstep as a toilet, smashing bottles in the street and spitting.
Any person found committing such acts will be dealt with robustly if found and identified. As a result of complaints regarding nuisance Police will be liaising with residents in Rollestone Road to discuss their concerns.
We will also be attending Old School close were some irresponsible parents have been allowing young children (some only 5) to play in street with stones which as a result caused a window to be broken.
This will be dealt with by means of referral to the relevant housing agency as the youths are too young to prosecute, however that isn’t to say that if the behaviour doesn’t improve consideration can’t be given to seeking eviction of problem families.
In relation to vehicle nuisance there are several instances in the last fortnight were youths have been identified and as such will be dealt with for these matters.
In relation to all instances of crime this fortnight there has been a very good detection rate with persons being arrested, reported or issued with fixed penalty notices.
Finally some good news the priority crime unit from Lyndhurst conducted a warrant on a flat in Forresters road a few days ago and seized a quantity of drugs and arrested a male on suspicion of supply.
The vast majority of such work is only carried out with the assistance of the public as such if you have any information on drug dealing (or persons stealing or handling stolen goods) then please call Hampshire police on 0845 045 45 45.
All persons who assist police will be treated sensitively and with respect for your position as a resident in the community.
So if you do know of something suspicious please inform us so we can deal and make your community a safer and more enjoyable place to live.
And just to finish, if you wake up one morning and find your vehicle missing it may not have been stolen as one gentleman in Fawley discovered when he reported his untaxed vehicle missing only to be told that it had been towed away at his expense for not having paid his road fund licence!
PC 3216 WOODHEAD
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