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FOREST ROW, HARTFIELD, NUTLEY, DANEHILL, FAIRWARP AND HOLTYE

Community Contact Wealden Tuesday 29 January to Tuesday 05 February

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APPEALS, MESSAGES AND NEWS

Chief Inspector Neil Honnor, the Wealden District Commanders February message:

I’m please to report, that once again we have pushed against the barriers, and unveiled a new tactic in the drive against graffiti. You will have heard me discuss previously, the programme of testing whether licensed premises sell alcohol to young people. Well now we have moved on to test if shops sell spray paint to young people in the same way. Of the shops tested, all but two knew the rules and refused a sale. Of the two shops that failed, one is being prosecuted, and the other received a warning. As with the alcohol campaign, the programme aims to prevent young people from obtaining products that cause crime, by making suppliers think about their role and responsibility in the community. I aim to run this campaign in key locations over the coming months, and help reduce graffiti.

Continuing with the ‘damage theme’, I have discussed the ‘Challenge Damage’ competition on a number of occasions in my message column. But to remind you, in the late autumn we decided to run a poster designing competition across the secondary schools in Wealden, to raise the awareness that vandalism, arson and graffiti in our neighbourhoods is a crime. The competition closed last week, and we undertook the process of selecting the winners. This was quite a task, not least because there were over 400 entries, but also because the level of art, and design was outstanding. We undertook the judging Heathfield Community College as guests of Alan Powell, the head teacher. The Judges for the competition were myself Pam Doodes (Leader of Wealden District Council) and Mark O'Brien (Chair of the Safer Wealden Partnership and an officer with East Sussex Fire & Rescue)

After careful consideration, 6 prize winning posters were chosen, others were nominated for certificates of merit. The intention is to publish at least three of the winning designs as posters, to be displayed in the community. These will help encourage people young to report vandalism, arson and graffiti and help the police identify offenders.

The competition was an excellent example of getting young people thinking about the environment they live in, through creative work. Interestingly criminal damage has been reducing since we launched this competition, particularly with regard to offences in parks, playgrounds and to public property. The intention was that the competition should work on a number of levels, first to get young people to recognise that causing damage; costs money and is a criminal offence; that young people have an important stake in community property; and that the vast majority of young people are responsible law abiding citizens, who can be an integral part of the drive against damage. I’m not sure how soon the posters will be ready for distribution, but you will see them around soon.

On the subject of road safety and speeding, I am pleased to say that after a period of extensive training, all of our community support officers are now trained to use the speed detection equipment. We will be focusing our efforts on areas where there are complaints of speeding in community locations, such as villages and estates. The main trunk roads remain the responsibility of our Roads Policing Department, where their expertise and equipment can be used to safely deal with the issues. As I have discussed before, I see my main role here as targeting anti social driving, which is as important as other elements of anti social behaviour, and of course impacts on road safety as well.

In the press recently, you may have read about a couple of anti social behaviour orders we have successfully secured. The first one was in Uckfield, against local resident Chris Hillman. Hillman is a perpetual nuisance who causes damage and is abusive in the local community.

The ‘ASBO’ will allow us to prevent that unacceptable behaviour, by giving us the power to deal with (which most likely will mean arrest) him in circumstances that have been shown to lead on to the anti social behaviour. For example, he will breach his ASBO if he is; drunk, associates with named local people, enters the community college, or is simply abusive.

The second ASBO is against Daniel Clarke, an 18 year old male in Herstmonceux. Actually this order was made in October, but only recently were we able to argue lifting the reporting  restrictions on it. Once again the ASBO limits Clark from visiting key locations in the village, where he has been shown to cause nuisance. Indeed Clarke has been recently charged with breaching the order. It is often the case that those under ASBO restrictions test the consequences of breaching them, but few continue to do so long term. There is often mixed comments about the value of ASBOs, but believe me they are an excellent tool in the law enforcement tool box. We have a number of additional ASBO applications in the court system, awaiting hearings.

Lastly a quick comment on the current crime trends. The force recently publicised how crime across the force area has reduced, well I am pleased to say that Wealden has made a significant contribution to those reductions. Here in the rolling 12 months to February, ‘total crime’ is down by 10%, burglary down by 22%, vehicle crime down by 10%, damage down by 8% and violence down by 3.5%. These are annual reductions on top of reductions in the previous year, and underline our commitment to continue to drive down crime through the actions I have discussed above.

Good News

Crime Down In Sussex

The number of crimes recorded in Sussex was down by almost ten per cent in 2007, with almost 13,000 fewer people becoming victims of crime.

End of year statistics show that:

• Total recorded crime was down by 9.5% compared with 2006 (from 135,018 to 122,211 offences).
• Burglary from people's homes was down 15% (4,800 to 4,080).
• Robberies were down 10.2% from 1,030 to 925.
• Recorded violent crime was down 8.6%, from 30,927 to 28,270.

The only area which bucked the trend was drugs possession offences, but this increase is more likely to reflect levels of police activity in Sussex rather than changes in the drugs market.

Meanwhile crime detections in Sussex are running at their highest levels since current recording methods were introduced. The percentage of crimes being detected (the so-called 'sanction detection' rate) rose to 31.6% in 2007.

And surveys of victims showed that their levels of satisfaction with the service received from Sussex Police are running at around 80% - 80.9% in the year to November 2007, compared with 79.5% a year earlier.

Homeless cats get a helping hand from Sussex Police

Homeless cats  will benefit following a £500 donation from the Sussex police property fund to the Cats Protection’s Eastbourne & District Adoption Centre. The money will go towards the purchase of two specialist vet examination trolleys which will improve the medical care given to the felines in the charity’s care.  Cats Protection’s Eastbourne & District adoption centre, based at Marshfoot Lane, Hailsham is currently caring for 48 cats and kittens in need of loving new homes.

The £500 donation comes from the police property fund and was presented by Police Community support officer Alison BOND who visited the centre on Wednesday 30 January 2008.

Press Release

Missing person – John Dennis Widdrington, date of birth 21/01/1950

John is described as white, medium build with grey hair in pony tail and a full facial beard. John is 58, his home address is in Hastings. Concern is growing as he has not been seen in Hastings since mid November 2007, by his closest friends and relatives. He may have connections with the Hammersmith and Kensington area, as it has been confirmed that he was also seen in London in November. He was also seen by police at Heathrow Airport in November, but he did not take a flight anywhere.

Description of his current clothing is not known. Thankfully he doesn’t require medication for any specific conditions and he is self-sufficient. However, since November he has not made contact with his nearest and dearest. This is most out of character for John as he is normally a very organised person. Hence why he has been reported as a missing person in mid January.

Historically, John is known to frequent the Brighton area too.

Police are urging any members of public that have seen him or persons similar in description to contact Sussex Police on 0845 60 70 999 quoting serial 1128 18/01/2008.

Vehicle Crime – Ashurst Wood

Around 12.30pm on Wednesday 30th January a blue Nissan Navara pick up was stolen from a premises in Homestall Road, Ashurst Wood . A silver Audi Salon was seen in the driveway of the premises shortly before the theft . Police are keen to hear from the occupants of the Audi, and anyone who may have seen the Audi or anyone acting suspiciously around the time of the theft.

If anyone has any information they are asked to contact PC Alex Tombling Uckfield Police Station on 0845 60 70 999 quoting ser 695 of the 30 January 2008  or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

CRIME REPORT

Vehicle Crime

Contact Information

In an emergency dial 999
For less urgent matters call the Sussex Police Call Handling Centre on 0845 60 70 999 (open 24 x 7).
E-mail Sussex Police to report crime, click on http://www.sussex.police.uk/contact_us.asp
Please quote the relevant serial number and date if you are responding to a reported crime, if not, ask to report a crime and request the serial number.

Information about any type of crime can be given anonymously by calling CRIMESTOPPERS (open 24x7) 0800 555111 or email www.crimestoppers-uk.org/

To find out who your local Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers are and how to contact them go to http://www.sussex.police.uk type in your post code and you’ll now find the names of all your local neighbourhood officers. Click on their pictures and you’ll see their personal profiles and contact details.

Free Home Fire Safety Visits by East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Fire Safety advice available at http://www.esfrs.org/

Other Contacts
Safer Wealden Partnership: Dave Law Anti Social Behaviour Co-ordinator 0845 6070999 ext. 33231 Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Trading Standards: 01323 418200 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
British Transport Police: 0800 405040

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