Fleur's Crime meeting last night, 17/4
I thought Fleur hosted an interesting meeting, led by Inspector Jonathan Lloyd. I took notes to share, and thought some might be interested in the following:Theft of vehicles was the main theme, but other crimes were discussed.There were 413 thefts from vehicles in the past 6 months. This was virtually unchanged from the same 6-month period a year ago, when there were 412. This is mostly opportunistic crime. Theft OF motor vehicles has increased in the past 6 months to 223, compared to 173 a year ago. 63% of thefts happens outside residences. This is mostly organised crime, and isn’t opportunistic generally. High end cars such as Jaguars, BMW’s, Range Rovers, Mercedes are the main targets. Thamesfield has the highest rate of theft of vehicle and theft from vehicle, with West Putney next on the list. Other wards are all roughly equal, but nowhere as high as Thamesfield. Newest crime is the smashing in of back windows – particularly aimed at cars where the parcel shelf is up, and the criminals just want to see if there’s anything hidden under the shelf. Ideally leave the parcel shelf up (or down, however it works in your vehicle), with a clear view of the empty boot. It takes criminals 10-15 seconds to smash a car window and grab items. Best advice is not to leave ANYTHING at all in the car. They’ll smash windows for a jersey, sunglasses, bags, a pound coin and of course computers, tablets and phones are taken the minute they’re spotted. It takes 1 minute to steal a catalytic converter. The police admit it is very hard to monitor, but hot spots have undercover patrols, as well as high viz ones. Some have been successful, but bikes and mopeds are hard to catch when you’re either on foot or in a car. There seems to be a high percentage of thieves coming across the bridges from Hammersmith and Fulham at the moment. If your car is stolen, the thieves quite often park it a few streets away to start with, to see if there’s a tracker on it, and if the owner or police get to it quickly. After that it’s mostly likely been stripped for parts, or shipped abroad. Number plates are quickly swapped. The bad news for owners is that, if the vehicle is found, it’s impounded and you have to pay to get it back. This is not a police decision, but is down to legislation. Owners find it very unfair that they have to pay to get their stolen vehicle back. The owner is sent a letter giving them 14 days to go and collect their vehicle. The question was raised whether notification could be via text or email now, as, if the owner is away, they might miss the 14 day window, and their car had been sent to be crushed. Police have had campaigns where they go down streets testing car doors to see how many have been left unlocked. The last one they did they found 23 unlocked vehicles in 2 hours! Some vehicles have wing mirrors that move inwards when the car is locked, and stay out when it’s open. A clear sign to thieves who know the makes and models and makes it very easy for them. One woman wanted to know if there could be some alarm that sounded within 10 seconds if you left your car unlocked. A question for manufacturers, not police. Police are going to be having a catalytic converter marking campaign in May. Look out on Twitter for news and updates. That seems to be their main publicity forum, and there isn’t the man power to do other social media. It’s a question we’ve raised for years, without success There are apparently theft resistant number plates – you can get special screws from garages. Faraday pouches should be used, even when you’re shopping. Don’t just put your keys in your pocket or handbag. Thieves are known to wave a gadget around in a car park, and collecting data, enabling them to steal vehicles easily. At home don’t leave keys near the front door, and put them in Faraday pouches if relevant, out of sight. Gear locks and steering wheel locks ARE a deterrent. S5 deadlock recommended (rather expensive!). Air tags are also useful for tracking vehicles. Motor bikes or mopeds – use a bike cover, and lock the rear wheel onto an immovable object. Steering locks on bikes are easily overcome. Any threatened or actual violence with car theft is obviously a big priority and should result in a quick response from police. Questions about the many, many cameras there are, especially in the High St. Who do they belong to? Who monitors them? There are 1000 cameras in Wandsworth, but limited staff to view the footage and monitor them. One person wanted to know why a stolen vehicle couldn’t be tracked by cameras retrospectively, if they knew the exact time when it was stolen. Answer is there just aren’t the staff to do such a labour-intensive job. More investment needed into staff monitoring CCTV. There is a new Superintendent, a New Commissioner and the hope is that things will improve. There are going to be 6 priorities, with three of them vehicle related. Staffing numbers of SNT’s is ‘correct’, although this is a third of what it was 10 years ago. All agree police presence on the streets is badly needed. 500 PCSO’s to be recruited across the Met, and Wandsworth should get 20 of them. Dog crime – about 1 dog a month is taken off the streets.There were a lot of questions – some specific, a complaint that police had all but suggested that the theft was covered by insurance, so not to worry, but basically there aren’t enough police on hand. Abstractions don’t help either. They’re bound to be on Coronation duty in May and taken out of their wards. REPORT ALL CRIMES AND SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY. You never know what little titbit of information will be helpful in catching a criminal and it’s helpful for police to know patterns of activity they otherwise wouldn’t be aware of.
Victoria Diamond ● 789d13 Comments