Crime: 2 October 2013  

Dear Residents of Maidenhead,
You are invited to an event on  Saturday 05/10/13 from 10am until 4pm. on Town Moor at the back of the Fire Station, access via Blackamoor Lane, Maidenhead
The event is an Emergency Services and Community Partnership Event. This has been organised by myself so that you all have a chance to come and find out who is out there ready to help with various issues.
There will also be activities for the children and a chance for residents to learn Basic Self Defence.
It would be great to meet as many of you as possible.
Regards.
Police Community Support Officer C9249 Michelle Turner |
Maidenhead West Team
Telephone Non Emergency 101
Address Thames Valley Police, Bridge Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 8LP
 
I get quite a few emails from people saying that I refer to their ‘Local Neighbourhood Team’ – but who are they ? – and – how do you contact them ?
The Royal Borough, has been broken down into ‘Clusters’, for Neighbourhood Policing purposes.  The old Police ‘Neighbourhoods’ have now been combined, to reduce the administration.
In my messages, I still list crime under the old ‘Police Neighbourhoods’ as you may not be familiar with the ‘Clusters’ and it seems to make sense that way.  I list each ‘Neighbourhood’ under a generic heading – which is in fact, the ‘Cluster’.  Each ‘Police Cluster’ has a group email address – you will see that ‘NHPT’ forms part of the email address, which can be accessed by every officer / PCSO, who is part of that team.  The email addresses, for old individual ‘Police Neighbourhoods’, have been discontinued.  Under each cluster heading, is a long ‘Link’ in blue.  Clicking this, will take you to the appropriate page on the TVP website, for your ‘Cluster’.  You will find pictures and names of each officer / PCSO who works in your area, plus monthly updates of all the work undertaken, good results, patrols etc. along with any meeting dates, times & locations.  Please have a look.  The photos took a lot of organising.  If you see those officers out and about, please go up and introduce yourself.  They are your Neighbourhood Team, geographically responsible and should know everything about crime in your area.  They will need your help – as much as you need and rely on them !
 
THIS HAS JUST BEEN SENT OVER FROM THE DAAT:
The Drugs, Alcohol and Action Team:
ALERT – SMALL BLUE PILL
We are aware of a small blue pill having been used by young people in the Borough, (slightly squared off in shape from the limited information we have).  One young person has been hospitalised as a result of taking this pill with cannabis, two others are known to have become highly aggressive towards others after using it.
Currently we are unable to identify what substances this pill is made of, however from the information we have pieced together we do know that when taken the user can appear very energised, alert and awake followed quickly by agitation, paranoia, confusion and aggressive behaviour towards themselves  or others.
Please share this information with your students and colleagues.
If you have any further information please try me in the first instance on the number below or contact a member of the DAAT Team on the 01628 796362.
We will send out a further update if we receive any additional information or confirmation of the substance.
Just to be aware, we have also had information about a muscle relaxant and Pacman Pills being used locally which we would be interested to find out more about.
Kind regards
Theresa
Theresa Allen
Young People’s Substance Misuse Worker
DAAT Office, Reform Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 8BY 
 
New Scrap Metal Dealers Act comes into force
 
From 1/10, a new act to regulate scrap metal dealers comes into force across the Thames Valley and country-wide.
 
Under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, all currently licensed scrap metal dealers, motor salvage operators, and vehicle dismantler’s are required to have a licence to trade and must apply for one, from their local authority by the deadline of 15 October.
 
If they have not obtained a licence by 1 December 2013, they face prosecution under the new Act and face a fine of up to £1,000, or conditions including restrictions to trading hours, or a Closure Order.
 
If they have applied by the deadline, they will be deemed to have a temporary licence, until the issue. If currently registered dealers, have not applied for a licence by 15 October, then they will not be able to trade until a licence is received.  Mobile collectors, must apply for a licence, in every authority area where they intend to collect scrap from.
 
Anyone not registered under the 1964 Act, will be liable to prosecution, if they trade and have not been issued with a licence, under the 2013 Act.
 
No scrap metal dealer is able to buy scrap metal with cash.
 
As of 1 October 2013, this also applies to mobile collectors who previously had exemptions to this rule.
 
Under the Act, all dealers are required to keep a record of all scrap metal they receive, process, or dispatch; including a description and weight of the metal, the date and time they received it, the name and address of the seller and any subsequent buyer, and the value of the metal.  This information must be kept for three years and be available to the local authority and police, on request.
 
NEXT – A WARNING
 
Hi Jeff –
 
I wonder if you could mention a job I attended recently in your community newsletter?
 
It was an attempted distraction theft of a bank card, which occurred at a Dedworth ATM on 18.09.13.
 
The aggrieved was an elderly man, withdrawing cash from the ATM in broad daylight, when a man came up beside him and asked him – just as his card and cash were being dispensed from the machine – if the £20 note on the floor was his ?  Luckily, he was sensible enough to put his cash straight into his inner jacket pocket – but as he was distracted and the man had an opportunity and did snatch the bank debit card out of his hand and made off.
 
Can you warn the readers ?
 
Cheers,
 
Elisabeth
PC 7469 O'BRIEN
Windsor Team 4
 
CAN I ADD:
We have had a report today from one of the banks in the High Street, Eton, that they detected a skimming device on their ATM on Monday, 30^th September at 9 p.m..  They added that a skimming device has also been detected on the 12^th, 13^th and 27^th September.  We were not informed !  If you used an ATM in Eton High Street at any of those times, please make contact with your bank.  If you use an ATM anywhere, can you give it a once over, before inserting your card – or to solve the problem entirely, get ‘cash back’ from a supermarket !
 
We have also had pickpockets in Windsor Town Centre – 3 cases in recent days.  Can everyone be on their guard please.
 
We had 2 cases on Monday at about 3 p.m. of someone going into shops in Sunninghill High Street and trying to confuse shop keepers.  Can you let any small shops you use know ?
30/9  Monday 3.15 p.m.  Stationers, High Street.  Attempted scam at the till.  A man handed over a £10 note for a pack of cigarettes, then a £20 note and finally a £50 note asking each time for his money back / change, in order to confuse the counter staff.  They were not confused – and he left the shop.  He is described as white, early 30s, thinning hair, black base ball cap, dark eyes, large round face, obese body, off white dirty polo shirt.  He spoke very quickly with an Irish accent.
30/9  Monday 3.10 p.m.  Grocers, High Street.  Same scam.  This time it was 2 men and it worked.  They walked away with £55 !!! 
 
MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL (Cluster name):
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Neighbourhood Page:
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-tvp-pol-area/yournh-tvp-pol-area-berkse-winds/

yournh-tvp-pol-area-n391.htm
2/10  Wednesday 4 a.m.  Shop, Queen Street.  The police were attending another incident when they looked around the rear of the property.  They found the rear door open and jemmy marks on the frame.  No-one was inside and it is not known at this time if anything was stolen
 
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
2/10  Wednesday midnight / 5 a.m.  Pub, Gringer Hill.  Offenders broke in through an upstairs bathroom window.  They then searched the premises, forcing the door to the office.  Nintendo Wii’s X 2, Laptop, poker set and cash stolen.
1/10  Tuesday 6 p.m.  Cookham Road.  Car left INSECURE.  A witness saw a man open the car and search the inside.  Unknown if anything stolen.
1/10  Tuesday 2.40 a.m.  Ray Mead Road.  Attempted Burglary.  The owner heard noses and his dog barked.  He looked outside and saw that the security lights were on and a man in the garden who immediately made off, when he saw the owner at the window.  The owner ran to the front of the house, where he saw 3 men running away.  No entry had been gained but there were marks around the downstairs rear windows.
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST (Cluster name):
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Neighbourhood Page:
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-tvp-pol-area/yournh-tvp-pol-area-berkse-winds/

yournh-tvp-pol-area-n393.htm
 NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH (Cluster name)
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Neighbourhood Page:
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-tvp-pol-area/yournh-tvp-pol-area-berkse-winds/

yournh-tvp-pol-area-n392.htm
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
30/9  Monday 5.50 p.m. / 6 p.m.  Harvest Hill Road.  Car passenger window smashed – cream bomber jacket, Iphone 4 and Ted Baker ‘man bag’ and contents stolen.
26/9 – 1/10  Thursday 2 p.m. / Tuesday 10.30 a.m.  Buisness Centre, Monkey Island Lane.  2 padlocks cut from exterior doors with bolt croppers.  Tidy search of unit.  2 bottles of J2O and 2 candelabras stolen.
30/9  Monday 8.15 p.m. / 9 p.m.  Restaurant, Windsor Road.  Car rear windscreen smashed – Antler leather bag and contents, including theatre tickets, a laptop, an Ipad etc stolen.  CCTV shows a lone male wandering around the car park looking into cars with a torch.  He left and then returned at 8.37 p.m., smashed the rear windscreen, reaches in and then runs off to a waiting car.
28/9 - 30/9  Saturday 1 p.m. / Monday 7.30 a.m.  Unit, Business Park, Priors Way, Holyport.  The shutters had been forced open and damaged – no entry gained.
 
MEMBERS COMMENTS:
 
Gillian has sent me a letter she has received from International Powerball Online lottery:
 
Apparently she has won £900,000 !!!  All she has to do to collect this money, is complete the attached form, giving all her and her bank details !!!  They even want full details of her next of kin !
 
The attached Lottery Processing Form, is headed up Heritage Financial Consultants with an address in Churchill Place, London E. 14.  If you would like the money transferred directly into your account, please complete full details !
 
We know people do fall for this – otherwise they would not go to the expense of printing and sending these letters – please do not let it be you – or anyone you know.
JUST BIN THEM UNREAD !
 
IN CONNECTION WITH SCAMS:
My young Volunteer Tom has been in today, to show me a brilliant talk on the TED website.  For those who are not initiated, TED.COM is one of the best and most informative websites, on the internet.
Every year a conference is held in Los Angeles and the top people in every conceivable field, Law / Arts / Science / Design attend and give 15 minute talks about their latest advances.  There are thousands stored from previous conferences that you can sit and watch.  There is a list of topics you can tick which pulls up a list of named presenters and their field of research.  Usually, the presenters try and make their field understandable to the lay attendee, sometimes that is simply not possible and within a minute or so of the presentation starting, they are in the stratosphere (I have watched several presentations on the Higgs Boson particle and can only follow it for about 2 minutes).  The one Tom drew to my attention, was on CYBERCRIME.  It lasts 15 minutes, is in perfectly understandable English - to the non tecchy - and is absolutely shocking – but – he does explain how we can each lessen the chances of being a victim of viruses.  He takes a few seconds to explain that every photo taken on a smart phone, encodes the GPS data, of where it was taken.  That is something we all need to remember if we post them anywhere; for example, if you upload / circulate photos taken at home, of a child’s birthday party.  As the presenter shows, innocent photos of an office party, or a photo uploaded by a friend, which includes you, gives away personal information about you and where you work !  They only have to enter the GPS co-ordinates from the photo into Google Maps, to get the address.  With Google Street View, they can even look at the building !  While my son and I were in Universal Studios last week, he took a photo of the boats arriving at the bottom of the drop in the Jurassic Park water ride.  Within a second a note appeared over the photo stating exactly where the photo had been taken and what it was of, asking him if he wished to tag it.  We need to advise our children and grandchildren and friends, to watch this presentation:
http://www.ted.com/talks/james_lyne_everyday_cybercrime_and_what_you_can_do_about_it.html
 
Thanks Tom.
 
FINANCIAL SCAM:
Hi Jeff
 
Hope your latest excursion went well and you have returned in one piece.
 
Received a phone call today from a financial loan company.  unfortunately I did not get the name, claiming that they had been advised I was in need of financial help.  They obviously had done their research, to address me by name.
 
There was a well rehearsed spiel from the little I heard, suggesting that they had the ideal answer for every response I might give.
 
May be worth putting the word about to warn others that this is yet another scam.
 
Could even be something one of your professionals could follow up
 
Regards
 
Norman