Author: Fraser Pithie

Kenilworth residents are warned to remain vigilant in the run up to Christmas as thieves have been about stealing bicycles from homes in the town.

Between 9am on 14 December and 8am on 15 December, offenders entered the rear garden of a home in Windy Arbour, Kenilworth and stole 5 insecure pedal cycles.

This is Incident 88 of 16 December 2015. If you have information that you believe may be connected to this incident, please contact Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 111 555

Crown Watch, one of the longest running Neighbourhood Watch groups in Kenilworth and Warwickshire, are pleased to confirm that just over 300 people have now signed up to the free crime alerts that Crown Watch issue to the town. Crown Watch specifically looks after homes in the northern section of Windy Arbour, all of Tulip Tree Avenue and the eastern section of Whitemoor Road.

However, since 2011 Crown Watch has extended it’s activities to provide a wider service of Neighbourhood Watch elements across Kenilworth. Working in conjunction with Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team Crown Watch published a “Kenilworth Update” Neighbourhood Watch newsletter every month but this ceased in April 2013.

Simply technology overtook the Newsletter and as a consequence Crown Watch have concentrated their efforts on using their website http://www.kenilworthnwatch.wordpress.com and Twitter to get crime alerts out across the town’s community.

Crown Watch are celebrating reaching over 300 residents with its free ‘crime alert’ service but its aim is to get every home in Kenilworth signed up so everyone can get up to date alerts which enables residents to be informed as quickly as possible of what is going on in the area, take any action if needed whilst it provides the best chance of someone remembering something they may have seen which could turn out to be useful information to the police with their investigations.

Warwickshire Police issue Neighbourhood Watch alerts to Crown Watch and usually within minutes these are uploaded by Crown Watch onto their website. Once the alert is published on Crown Watch’s website a email is automatically sent to those residents who have subscribed to the free email alerts. They receive these emails within seconds on their computers, smartphones and tablets (basically any device that they can receive their personal email on).

In addition the Alert is automatically Tweeted with a link to the new alert allowing people following Crown Watch on Twitter to access the latest alert. If you would like to receive automatic Crime Alerts for Kenilworth then simply go to the subscribe section towards the top of this page on the right and provide your email details.

We cannot access your email details as these are automatically entered into the automatic email processor and we DO NOT provide your email details to anyone else or any third parties. We only send out emails when we need to which is usually only when we have received a Crime Alert.

Crown Watch looks forward to more residents signing up to the free alert service and by doing so helping get much greater coverage across our town so we can look out for ourselves better and also look out for others in our community too.

As the nights draw in at this time of year Crown Watch is advising Kenilworth residents to stop and consider what measures they could take to help PREVENT themselves becoming a victim of burglary. Over the last couple of months there have been several burglaries that have taken place across the town and each victim probably never gave crime much of a thought before they were personally affected.

Most of us think “It will never happen to me/us”. The problem is that it can and often does unless you take some time to consider what things you can do to put criminals off. Crown Watch recommends that householders consider credible deterrents which are known to put criminals off.

Smartwater 

Is a product endorsed by Warwickshire Police and it enables householders to mark all valuables indelibly. If any items are stolen and are subsequently recovered they can be identified by using an Ultra Violet light. A small sample of the mark is taken away and the unique chemical DNA associated with the householders individual Smartwater is confirmed. This not only proves who the rightful property owner is but also places the person in possession of such an item at the scene of the crime or at the very least in receipt of stolen goods arising from it.

Most criminals realise this and therefore if they see the Smartwater sign at a property they often give the property a miss and try elsewhere. They simply don’t want to get caught or stolen items sold on tracing back to them. Smart water is available through Crown Watch and Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team at a significantly reduced discount. Just email crownwatch@me.com and request more information.

Burglar Alarm

Have come a long way from the days when it was only the very wealthy that could afford them and they were very limited in how they operated. Today several companies offer what are called “monitored burglar alarm” services. For a modest fee of around 85p a day you can have a pet friendly (this means pets can move around and come and go without the alarm being activated) alarm installed and operating. You can either receive any alarm alerts yourself and other nominated persons or pay a higher monthly fee and the alerts go direct to the police. Many people elect to use the lower cost service with alerts going to themselves and their nominated persons.

The deterrent is that burglars recognise the burglar alarm box and crucially they know what companies operate a monitored service. For burglars, who are opportunists, that’s enough. They are likely to avoid the premises because the risk of being caught entering a home that has a monitored alarm is much higher. Typical installation costs are a one off of between £200 to £250 and then a monthly fee to pay for the 24 hour monitoring that works out at around 85p a day.

If you go away pretty regularly we strongly recommend you look into monitored burglar alarm to put that deterrent out there to protect your home, particularly when you are away.

Neighbourhood Watch

Some streets and areas have Neighbourhood Watch schemes operating. These are not formal associations and they do not need lots of meetings and work. Crown Watch is one of the longest Neighbourhood Watch schemes operating in Kenilworth and indeed in Warwickshire. It has 5 co-ordinators that look after three streets in Kenilworth. If you do not have a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in your area why not see if you and a few like minded neighbours want to set one up. There’s not a great deal of work but it does provide reassurance to local residents.

Crown Watch can help and advise you set a Neighbourhood Watch scheme up if you would like. We are volunteers so there is no charge. We also can let you know what help and resources you can get to launch your scheme and communicate with your residents. If you wish to know more then please email us at: crownwatch@me.com

Alternatively, Kenilworth’s Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), which is part of Warwickshire Police, can help you with setting up Neighbourhood Watch. Kenilworth’s SNT can be contacted by email at; Kenilworth.snt@warwickshire.police.uk or by telephone on 01926 684404

We hope the foregoing advice has been helpful, if we all review what we each are doing to protect our homes and property and if needed each do a little more by applying credible deterrents then it will make a BIG difference. The aim must be to create a town and community where it becomes obvious to a criminal that it’s not worth it because there is just too much chance of being caught.

Crown Watch are advising residents to heighten their vigilance and review their home and vehicle security after a series of events over the past few days across the town.

Warwickshire Police have advised that the following incidents have taken place and request that if anyone has seen anything or has any information they make contact on 101 or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 111 555

Wilson Grove, Kenilworth

At just before 11.30pm on 15 November, offenders broke into a home in Wilson Grove, Kenilworth and stole the keys to a Mini Cooper vehicle. The keys were then used to steal the vehicle from outside. This is Incident 418 of 15 November 2015.

Woodcote Avenue, Kenilworth

During the night of 16 into 17 November, offenders broke into a van parked outside a home in Woodcote Avenue, Kenilworth and stole a large number of electrical tools from inside. This is Incident 89 of 17 November 2015.

Guy Road, Kenilworth

At some point before 5.20pm on 17 November, offenders cut a hole around the rear doorlock of a van parked outside a home in Guy Road, Kenilworth and then entered the van. Once inside, the offenders stole a large quantity of power tools from inside. This is Incident 139 of 17 November 2015.

Amherst Road, Kenilworth

During the night of 16 into 17 November, offenders broke into a home in Amherst Road, Kenilworth after smashing the rear french doors. Once inside, the offenders carried out an untidy search before making off with various items, including the keys to two high value vehicles. The vehicles were then stolen from outside. This is Incident 158 of 17 November 2015.

Crown Watch is urging all Kenilworth residents to review the use of their personal computers and ensure they are protecting themselves from scams and online/cyber crime.

The BBC’s Panorama programme outlines the shockingly easy way cyber criminals operate and in doing so shows the need for us to be a lot more focused with passwords  and what information we provide and to who.

You can still see Panorama by clicking on this link here >    http://bbc.in/1Y0p3A6

If you have not seen the programme yet we strongly advise you take some time to do so and then review your passwords and online security.