NEWS
07/01/10. Operation Crackdown.
'Don't tolerate it... report it' - that's the crucial New Year message from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership to residents in Sussex. By getting involved with Operation Crackdown local residents can help make the roads of Sussex safer for everyone in 2010 and beyond.
Insp Marc Clothier of the Sussex Police Road Policing Unit said: "As we start the new year, I am keen to remind residents that anti-social, careless or dangerous driving or riding is not acceptable on the roads of Sussex.
I would encourage members of the local community to use Operation Crackdown's reporting facility to provide us with information about those people who drive or ride in a manner which puts the lives of others at risk. The information you supply will be analysed and then any appropriate action can be taken by Sussex Police, which will help us to make a difference to the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on the roads in Sussex."
He continued: "Motorists know the risks created by driving or riding at excess or inappropriate speeds, using a mobile phone (either to take calls or text), drink or drug-driving, by the non-wearing of seatbelts or by driving a vehicle in an unsafe condition. We use the latest technology to target anti-social drivers and riders once they have been identified locally either by officers or Operation Crackdown reports."
Neil Hopkins, communications manager of the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership said: "Everyone can help make the roads of Sussex safer. Just by storing the Operation Crackdown number in their phones - 01243 642222 or by going to www.Operation Crackdown.org, when they see inappropriate or unacceptable driving or riding. But please make sure when you are reporting anti-social driving that you pull over safely at the side of the road or ask a passenger to write down details.
"Be careful to note the vehicle's make, model, colour and number plate. When you are noting the location, use house numbers and road names to pinpoint where the incident happened or where you spotted a potential abandoned vehicle.
"Here are ten New Year resolutions road users can make in order to help the roads of Sussex safer for everyone:
1. Don't ignore it - help the targeting of persistent bad drivers before they cause a collision.
2. Use Crackdown to tell us about abandoned vehicles, reducing the amount of time vehicles remain in community and saving significant costs in the process.
3. If it's an abandoned vehicle, if possible take a digital picture of it.
4. Do it! It only takes a few moments, when you are at work or home to visit the Operation Crackdown website to record your anti-social riding/driving information.
5. Remember: Do not attempt to write anything down whilst driving. Don't add to the problem!
6.Tell all your family and friends about Operation Crackdown. The more people who are thinking about road safety in Sussex, the better.
7. Don't take risks, if other people are driving inappropriately, don't let their behaviour influence yours.
8. When walking, cycling or biking wear something bright or highly visible to alert your presence to other road users.
9. Go to www.SussexSaferRoads.gov.uk to find out more our road safety initiatives and how you can help make the roads in Sussex safer.
10. Get involved, let 2010 be the year when you join in with Operation Crackdown - Don't tolerate it... report it!
Monthly Neighbourhood watch message from Police Headquarters
The Police across the county were involved in the national campaign of Not in my Neighbourhood week between the 2-6 November. A whole range of local initiatives were undertaken from street meetings to crime patrols and I would like to thank all those Neighbourhood Watch members who got involved.
The darker nights are now with us as the clocks have changed and I would ask all neighbourhood watch members to remind the public to leave a light on within their premises if they go out in the evening. Drawing the curtains and leaving a light on gives the impression that someone is at home and helps prevent burglary. This is a simple precaution. It is true to say that burglary has reduced considerably in the last few years and that Sussex is one of the safest places in the country. Having said that one burglary is too many for us.
As we approach Christmas many of you will be going out buying presents. Can you also remind your members to make sure these presents are not left on display in vehicles in our town centres. This gives the opportunist thief the incentive to break into vehicles. Everything should be locked out of sight in the boot. The best advice is not to leave anything valuable in your car. Keep it locked up in your house. Remove any sat nav gadgets and hide them within your vehicle. I still see people leaving cars with the sat nav stuck on the windscreen.
If you require any crime prevention advice please contact your local officers who will be happy to assist. Your local Neighbourhood teams are there to assist. Do not hesitate to contact them.
Dick Coates Chief Inspector, Head of Neighbourhood Policing Branch Richard.coates@sussex.pnn.police.uk
01.11.09. STORRINGTON AND SULLINGTON CRIME AND DISORDER REDUCTION CO-ORDINATING GROUP.
This group has been in place for 12 months and was a response by Horsham District
Council to the levels of anti social behaviour and criminal damage in the Storrington
and Sullington area. In October 2008 the Chantry Ward was 3rd in the Horsham
District behind the two Horsham Town Centre wards for disorderly behaviour,
and the highest ward for criminal damage by quite some way at 21% of the district
total.
The SSCDRP was created in response to feedback from Storrington Parish Council
and the Community Partnership and led by Trevor Beadle from Horsham District
Council. An action plan was created with specific aims and objectives to achieve
over the following 12-18 months.
An action plan was created for a number of objectives such as a reduction in
criminal damage, an increase in the availability of youth provision and a number
of sub groups were formed to focus on specific areas of the action plan.
Saxon Weald led on an initiative to create a Community Charter. This was an
agreement between the local service providers and the residents of Saxon Weald.
Each Service provider committed to a base level of service provision and guidance
was distributed for who to contact and what to expect.
A number of youth activities were introduced to the village and close communication
between local PCSOs and the youth providers assisted the Horsham District Council
Community Safety Team when interacting with the main persons of interest.
The parish council has provided some superb facilities on Sullington Green after
consultation with the local youngsters. A youth shelter, a ball wall and play
area have all been installed this year.
Policing response in the winter months was increased at the peak times for disorder
by the use of some overtime money. A PC and PCSO were placed on hi visibility
foot patrol in and around the areas most at threat of disorderly behaviour.
Saxon Weald provided a house for the local PCSOs to centre their patrols from,
and Forge House provided accomodation for Thurday Police surgeries. Increasing
the visibility of Police in the village.
October 2009 figures show a 66% reduction in criminal damage and a 33% reduction
in disorderly behaviour calls to the police over the last 12 months. This reduction
is the result of the strong partnership working by all agencies and residents
of Storrington. Overall crime has also reduced over the 12 month period.
The activity demonstrated by this process has led to real results and an improvement
in the quality of life for residents of Storrington and Sullington. What is
important now is the continued effort to keep Storrington safe and crime levels
low.
You can see you local officers Blogs on the Sussex Police website on this link,
just click on the map of your area. http://www.sussex.police.uk/neighbourhood_policing/district.aspx
07/08/09/ Storrington Area Responder Team (StART) is a group of local
residents who are trained by and provide support to the South East Coast Ambulance
Service (SECAmb) NHS Trust.
They respond, prior to the arrival of the ambulance, to serious medical and
other life threatening conditions, including Heart Attacks, Unconsciousness
and Severe Bleeding. StART's trained volunteers aim to provide cover for the
local community, 24 hours a day, seven days a week by working a rota system
that allows call out by the Ambulance Service Emergency Dispatch Centre.
You might well know somebody who has benefited from their help. When a 999 call
is received by the ambulance service an ambulance is immediately dispatched.
A few seconds later, once vital information has been gathered the responder
on duty will be alerted and requested to attend. Due to their locality they
will usually arrive before the ambulance to administer potentially life saving
treatment that can greatly increase the patients chance of a good outcome. Due
to Storrington's rural location it is often difficult for the ambulance to attend
within 8 minutes for a high priority call, which is why responders are particularly
important in this area. There were 1263 calls in 2008/2009 of which 297 were
immediately life threatening 'Category A' calls. (Source: SECAmb High Priority
Areas 23Jun09)
StART need the local communities help to save local lives. All of our equipment
is funded through donations to StART and we are in real need of more responders
to help us cover our rota. If you can help either through donations or volunteering
either as a responder or member of our committee please visit our website http://www.storringtonresponders.org.uk/
where donations can be made online or contact the Chairman, Brenda on 01903
740583.
Many Thanks Dave Emsley StART Team Leader OBO PCSO Carol Boniface
28/04/09. New assistant chief constables. Sussex Police Authority has announced the appointment of two new assistant chief constables. Nick Wilkinson, 47, who has been a temporary assistant chief constable since February, joined Sussex Police as a police constable in 1981 and most recently has been the East Sussex divisional commander. He has also served as superintendent crime and operations for East Sussex and head of the Road Policing Unit. Nick will be responsible for operational support, which includes communications, information services, the criminal justice department and he will also be the lead officer for the national Impact programme. Ch Supt Olivia Pinkney, 38, comes to Sussex from Avon and Somerset Constabulary. She joined as a PC in Taunton in 1991 and has served as the divisional commander for Bath and NE Somerset and head of Special Branch. Her rôle will have specific responsibility for protective services including the operations department. Laurie Bush, vice-chairman of Sussex Police Authority, said: "We interviewed six extremely talented and capable candidates and we are confident that, in Nick and Olivia, we have appointed two outstanding new assistant chief constables who will support Chief Constable Martin Richards in his commitment to ''Serving Sussex'', the benefits of which are being felt by communities across the county."
08/04/09. Yellow Pages Delivery due to start the 29th of April. Click here for more information.
05.01.09. Home Office Advice. As part of a new Crime Prevention initiative being launched by the Home Office the below page takes you to the ' Home Office' Crime Prevention web pages and a new ' Home Security' survey.It is part of a new initiative from the Home Office regarding burglary but there is other information and advice which you may all find useful.
Web Page .... http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/how-you-can-prevent-crime/
James Joslin PCSO
20/01/09. Message from the Horsham Police District Commander.
I have now been at Horsham for six months and can rightfully say how proud
I am to lead your local policing team.
You will be pleased to hear Horsham remains a low crime district and overall
crime has been reduced by almost 4% from last year.
I have inherited an excellent team and we are intent on continuing to drive
down the numbers of crime, concentrate on those that affect you most and provide
a high quality service. We have been building on this success tackling the issues
that matter to you, for instance:
• Strengthening of Neighbourhood Policing Teams means that you will see more
officers dedicated to your neighbourhood than ever before. This year has seen
two additional Sergeants take up position to supplement those already in place.
• Setting up of Neighbourhood Panels whose purpose is for residents and workers
to meet with their local officers to identify local priorities for the police.
• Setting up of a number of new Neighbourhood Watch Schemes.
• A multi-agency project is successfully reducing crime and improving community
confidence in Storrington and Sullington.
• Utilising Force resources to target criminals including the Automatic Number
Plate Recognition system Unit and Roads Policing Units.
• Local operations to tackle domestic abuse.
I would once again encourage you to contact your local officers and PCSO’s
to become involved in Neighbourhood Watch and Neighbourhood Panels. In addition
I would welcome anyone who wants to come into policing as a volunteer or Special
Constable to contact Claire Spiers at the following email address: claire.spiers@sussex.pnn.police.uk.
In the coming months we will be changing the way we deal with your calls asking for advice or where it is not urgent that we attend the same day; we will be introducing an appointments based service. I will keep you updated on that as it is introduced.
It has been a pleasure meeting so many of you and I look forward to working in partnership to continue to deliver and improve service that you expect and deserve.
CI Biglands District Commander
14/01/09. Horsham South Neighbourhood Policing has grown.
The area covers all south of the A272 with Billingshurst and Amberley on the
west border and Cowfold and Henfield on the East Border. The South Downs form
the Southern border to the area.
This area is dissected by the A24 which forms a nice split for the purposes
of the Horsham South NP structure.
The Sergeant responsible for the east side of the area is Sergeant Steve Boyes with Police Contable Dawn Ross and PCSOS James Josling (Henfield), Dani Suarez Mori (Cowfold), and the addition of new PCSOs Charlotte (Charlie) Whittaker for Steyning and Anna Giles for Beeding.
The Sergeant Responsible for the west side is Sergeant James Makepeace. with Police Contable Colin Parker and PCSOs Tracy Field and Carole Boniface (Storrington), Louisa Tilley and Adrian Bell (Billingshurst) and joining PCSO Neville Warner is Hannah Venus to assist in Pulborough.
Schools Liason staff are PC Angie Keeley and PCSO Natasha Denbeigh (Steyning Grammar).
Three of the five response teams work from Steyning and two from Pulborough. Also working from Pulborough is the Force Road Policing Ops Motorcycle Division Team, and the crash reduction Sergeant.
Sgt James Makepeace Pulborough.
For up to date information on police in your area click here. Ed
27/11/08. Change of name for Neighbourhood Teams. The names Sussex Police
use for district-based neighbourhood teams are changing, in order to reflect
better the roles they perform, and also to bring them in line with national
usage. With effect from Monday 1st December the names used will be: -
Neighbourhood Policing Teams - refers to dedicated local problem solving
teams (previously known as Neighbourhood Specialist Teams).
Neighbourhood Response Teams - refers to 24 hour district based response
teams (previously known as Neighbourhood Policing Teams).
The overarching name covering both of these resources will be: · Neighbourhood
Teams.
There may some potential for confusion initially, as the term Neighbourhood
Policing Team is already in use but will now refer to a different role. This
should be minimal, however, and outweighed by the benefits of having names that
clearly describe the role performed by those teams and are aligned with the
way the term 'Neighbourhood Policing' is generally used nationally.
Neville Warner PCSO
04/11/08. New Sergeant in Pulborough Police Station.
I would like to take this opportunity to say hello to you all. I am Sergeant James Makepeace from Pulborough Police Station. I have transferred from Bognor Regis where I worked for 3 1/2 years as a Neighbourhood Sergeant. Before that I was a PC in Worthing for 2 years, prior to that a Paramedic in Chichester for 6 years. We will be passing out messages of information from time to time. Any information from yourselves can come via contact with your district PCSO.
Regards, James Makepeace CM026
17/10/08. Message from the new Horsham Police District Commander.
I have just taken up the post of District Commander for Horsham and look forward to serving and meeting many of you in the near future. My mantra is simple; prevent crime, provide justice for all and provide reassure to all the communities we serve by being accessible and visible.
I am fortunate to take over from Chief Inspector Steve Black who I know has led on the delivery of real improvements in service and reductions in crime locally. I intend to build upon this performance and will encourage co-operation and problem solving to deliver solutions for the community of Horsham.
I will focus my team’s efforts on those crimes that have the most impact on the lives of the community we serve; you can help us do that most effectively by ensuring that you tell us about those things that effect you. You can contact us in a number of ways and I would encourage you to do that.
This is an exciting time for neighbourhood policing and I am pleased to be involved as we continue to build upon the principles of delivering local policing that meet the needs of the community. We will continually seek to keep you informed of what we and our partners are doing to meet our identified priorities. You now have access to a great deal of local crime information and I would ask you to look at this at the link below. The information gives a straight forward assessment of our local priorities and demonstrates whether we are achieving them or not:
http://www.sussex.police.uk/neighbourhood_policing/downloads/Horsham_localCrime.xls
I would ask that you encourage others amongst your friends and family to take as active an interest as yourselves in policing, particularly in relation to people putting themselves forward to be a part of our neighbourhood panels. My PCSO colleagues can tell you more on this.
If you have any information on crime being committed in your area then please tell us: drop into your local station, ring 0845 6070 999 or crime stoppers, which is an anonymous system, on 0800 555 111. If you have any feedback on the local policing response or ideas as to how services can be improved please feel free to contact me by e-Mail; steve.biglands@sussex.pnn.police.uk
Steve Biglands District Commander.
12/09/08. Message from the Horsham Police District Commander.
I want to take the opportunity to advise you all of a change in District Commander
for Horsham District. With effect from the 22nd September, I will be moving
to the role of Detective Chief Inspector, Headquarters, CID.
My replacement will be DCI Steve Biglands. Steve has served with Kent Police
for many years before transferring to Sussex. He is currently serving on the
Major Crime Branch.
I would like to thank all of you that I have had the good fortune to work with
during my time at Horsham.
I have valued the support and advice that people have provided. I know my replacement
will be keen to build upon this.
I am pleased to be leaving during a period of overall crime reduction and particularly
a 28% reduction in domestic burglary; this could not have been achieved without
the support of you all.
CI Steve Black District Commander
16/07/08. Bloggs. Sussex Police is very keen to promote the use of the
Neighbourhood Policing Website and increase the readership of PCSO's individual
blogs.
Did you know that there is a facility for individuals to 'sign up' to automatically
receive blogs when they are published? This is done by visiting the Sussex Police
Website at www.sussex.police.uk selecting the individual PCSO for your ward/neighbourhood
and click on the box 'Get your Updates by Email'. You then simply complete your
email details in order to receive regular blogs. This facility can be stopped
at any time.
It is acknowledged that these blogs will not effect the submission of usual
NHW Crime/Information Bulletins to street co-ordinators, but is a very useful
contact medium and promotes the use of the police website and increases PCSO
contact.