Newbury Business Today

Cross border crime

11th March 2010

Email: richard.maynard@newburynews.co.uk

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TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS with PCSO Philip Lewis

It has long been known, certainly by the police, if not all of us in general, that crime is not just a local problem.
In fact, much of the crime that takes place particularly around our industrial areas is carried out by people from outside the area.
An example of this is a recent incident which I was fortunate enough to be able to interrupt. I was on patrol, early evening on one of our industrial estates and noticed a suspicious van parked outside a unit. A number of men where acting oddly, looking around with torches. Unfortunately, they saw me approaching and while I was calling for back up, they made off. We later found the van abandoned and it turned out to have been stolen from the Swindon area some months before.
This sort of incident is not uncommon, as police focus on an area and the crime is displaced. We need to ensure that when it is displaced, we are not seen as a “soft target” and ensure that when these criminal elements are coming into our area, we are as proactive as possible to deter them.
I have mentioned in previous comments that much of my work is proactive and involves advising on securing your premises. We are fortunate to have a specialist that can visit and give practical advice on the best way of doing this.
In much the same way that the conference held earlier this month, entitled Tackling Rural Crime Together was aimed at helping the rural community to help the police, I urge you to help me to help you. It is vital that every incident is reported, regardless how trivial, and  anything you see that looks out of place or suspicious, you contact myself or the police.
We need to build the intelligence so that we can more actively target
business crime. Last year, we had a number of successes, working with Trading Standards, surrounding counterfeit goods.
Unfortunately, a new issue seems to be coming to the fore surrounding illicit tobacco. Please be vigilant around the trading estate areas, as not only is it a cost to your business in lost productivity, but as these people can often just wander in to premises, the risk of someone getting injured is very high. I will report on this in more detail next month and how we are planning to tackle it.
Other areas for vigilance include diesel thefts, which are still being reported, and night time prowlers in the Kennetside area of Bone Lane. As always if you would like to contact me or arrange a visit from one of our crime prevention specialists please e-mail me on: philip.lewis@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
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