Over the past few days and nights criminals have continued to operate across Kenilworth. The majority of criminal activity has concerned the theft of motor vehicles, and/or property from them. These latest incidents have occurred across different parts of the town.

Moss Grove, Kenilworth – Incident 81 of 29 June 2018.                                                       Overnight of 28/29 June 2018, offenders stole a Toyota vehicle from the driveway of a home in Moss Grove, Kenilworth.  The owner of the vehicle still has the keys.

Randall Road, Kenilworth – Incident 106 of 30 June 2018.                                            During the night of 29 into 30 June 2018, offenders broke into the carport of a home in Randall Road, Kenilworth and stole a bicycle and a laptop computer.

Lower Ladyes Hill, Kenilworth – Incident 119 of 1 July 2018.                                      Overnight 30 June/1 July 2018, offenders broke into a home in Lower Ladyes Hills Kenilworth through a cellar window.  The offenders then entered the hallway of the house and stole the keys to an Audi vehicle.  The offenders made off back through the window and used the keys to steal the vehicle from outside.

Herbert Bond Drive (off Clinton Lane), Kenilworth – Incident 55 of 2 July 2018  Between midnight and 6am on 2 July, offenders broke into a vehicle parked on the driveway of a home in Herbert Bond Drive, Kenilworth and stole several items from inside.

We need to help ourselves and deter these crimes as much as possible. While Kenilworth Watch will continue to press police for a greater presence equally we must emphasise that there are a number of things that householders can do to deter criminals and save themselves from becoming the next victim. Ask any of those victims of crime in Kenilworth if they thought it would happen to them and most will say they “NO” – but it did!

There are some key points for residents to consider;

• If you treasure your vehicle then consider investing in a decent immobilisation system. If you have paid thousands of pounds for your vehicle then why are you loathe to spend a further £110 on something like this Disklok that really puts off car thieves. They are simply not going to try and spend time trying to get this off your steering wheel which they need to do to steal your vehicle.
• Don’t leave ANY valuables in your vehicle event though it might be outside your home and/or on your drive. If you own a van then reverse the vehicle up against another vehicle or your home so its virtually impossible to open the rear doors.

• If you have a keyless entry system for your motor vehicle or keys that act like a remote control to lock and unlock your vehicle then consider investing in a ‘Faraday Cage” or signal blocker pouch – a metal box or metal covered pouch that prevents thieves intercepting and ‘talking to your car keys’ whilst they are in your home. These are available upon Amazon for under £10 – again if you have paid thousands for your vehicle why not pay a few more pounds to help keep it safe.

• Don’t put your car keys down just inside the front door. Thieves know all the tricks and if they are really interested in your car they will try their best to steal it. Fishing through letter boxes to hook up keys is one of their techniques – Don’t make it easy for them.

• Consider a ‘monitored’ burglar alarm, they can cost under £1 a day and they deter thieves from ‘visiting’ your home. 

If you have any information regarding these latest events in this alert then please contact Warwickshire Police on 101.

Two incidents took place in the early hours of Friday morning (22 June) in Kenilworth leading involving an attempted burglary and a burglary that led to two motor vehicles being stolen.

These events demonstrate that offenders are in our midst and looking for opportunities to commit crime against householders and householders property.

Attempted Burglary – Butchers Row, Kenilworth

At just after 02.30hrs on 22 June, three youths, all in dark clothing attempted to break into a home in Butchers Row, Kenilworth.  The noise woke the occupants of the house and the offenders made off down Monmouth Close towards Elmbank.

Rouncil Lane, Kenilworth

At 02.45hrs on 22 June, the residents of a home in Rouncil Lane, Kenilworth heard a banging noise at the front door and then saw two of their vehicles being driven off the driveway.  The offenders had smashed through the front door and stolen the keys to the vehicles.

Residents are advised to remain vigilant at all times. If you have any information about either of these events please contact Warwickshire Police on 101.

Burglary and Car theft returned to Kenilworth last week with the news that during the night 13/14 June 2018, offenders entered a home on Siddeley Avenue, Kenilworth. Once inside the property the offenders carried out a search to find car keys to a red Audi A3  that they then used to steal the vehicle.

This latest event demonstrates the need for residents to remain vigilant at all times and take all appropriate measures to secure vehicles and keys while also deploying deterrents such as monitored intruder alarms and car immobilisation devices.

If you think you saw or heard anything suspicious that may be related to this event please contact Warwickshire Police on 101.

You may have wondered, like us, why there have been no crime alerts for the Kenilworth area since the 5 May, is that there has been no crime or is it that there has been crime but no crime alerts? We wondered too, so we tweeted Warwickshire Police and failed for several days to get any real engagement or response, indeed we felt we needed to escalate our tweets to get heard. This was disappointing.

It’s essential to Kenilworth Watch because we have over 500 people, businesses and organisations following us and receiving our automatic crime alerts and have nearly 400 followers on Twitter. We have, over several years, worked hard to build up this level of engagement with the local community and we know how important it is to many of you to receive our alerts which you let you know what is going in and what steps it may be sensible to take in response to things that occur in our neighbourhood.

We are pleased to report this morning that Warwickshire Police have now been in contact with us and have confirmed that through our tweets and escalation we have effectively alerted them to the fact that the crime alert system has not been working since early May. Consequently, they are working on getting things sorted. We have offered to help in any way we can so we can get back to normal as soon as possible and keep you informed on a timely and effective basis.

While speaking with Warwickshire Police, it has become clear that there has been more crime in May but also there have been some successes in catching offenders involved in committing crime in Kenilworth too. Once things are sorted, which hopefully should be within the next few days, we will seek to bring you up to date with what has been going on. We will also provide more details on the recent successes concerning the apprehending of offenders and most importantly get back to normal by issuing timely alerts and advice to you. Many thanks for your understanding.