SMI NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH SCHEME

Local Crime Information

02/07/2020

Scam awareness:

A - Never Assume a caller, email or text is genuine.

B - Never Believe a caller, email or text is genuine.

C - Always Confirm by contacting a trusted number or team like Action Fraud, a family

member, friend or your bank’s fraud department to check if it’s genuine.

Please if you hear of someone that has become a victim of a scam encourage them to report it immediately at:

www.actionfraud.police.uk or by calling:

0300 123 2040

For up to date information via twitter: @actionfrauduk

www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/advice/general-advice

www.kent.police.uk/fraud

www.actionfraud.police.uk/what-is-national-fraud-intelligence-bureau

02/07/20

Arrest of suspect in connection with vehicle thefts on SMI

A male has been arrested in connection with the thefts from motor vehicles that occurred last month on the Island and other locations in Medway. He has been charged and remanded in custody.

June 2020

Anti-Social Behaviour and Other Incidents of Note

Now that the weather has improved, the amount of youths swimming in Basin 2 has already started to increase. These have been picked up quickly, either by CCTV from the Trust and Ward security, or by residents reporting them. The youths have been given words of advice and moved on from the area. On each occasion, the youths have not been from St Mary's Island but from other areas in Medway. I will be keeping an eye on this and if we have repeat visitors, we will visit parents.

Shoplifting has decreased in Dockside and at the Co-Op, mainly I believe because of people having to be monitored in and out of the centre and shops.

There has been a theft reported on the Island. Four pushbikes were taken from a rear garden

overnight on the 25th June, unfortunately there is no CCTV in that area and the bikes have not been located. The rear gate to the property was not locked. Two of the bikes have been property marked so if they show up anywhere, they can be returned to the owner.

Two males were reported to be climbing on the Blue Crane along the River Walk. On arrival, one male was fixing a rope at the top of the crane and they said they were going to be abseiling down.

Words of advice were given and the males moved on.

Reports of anti social behaviour at Dockside car park have started to come in again, mostly from residents at The Dockyard and Marina Point West. On the 22nd June, as I was passing by, a driver was wheel spinning a car around the car park. On stopping the vehicle, it transpired that the driver only held a provisional license, was not displaying L plates and was not insured to drive the vehicle. A

patrol was called to the location and dealt with the offences accordingly.

Report crime incident reporting form

Useful documents:

Items left in vehicle notice

St Mary's Island (SMI) Neighbourhood Watch Scheme

SMIRA carried out a resident consultation in July 2020 on its island wide neighbourhood watch scheme proposals. The proposals included two parts:

Sharing information

As part of its information sharing approach SMIRA will:

Register the whole island as one scheme
Act as the lead Neighbourhood Watch controller for the SMI scheme
Ask SMI Sector Representatives to act as information sharers about the new scheme
Create a new crime incident reporting form on the SMIRA website for SMI residents to share information about crime on SMI (this does not replace direct reporting of incidents to the police on 999 and 101)
Information received from the incident form will go directly to CMT and the PCSO
Create new website pages outlining ways to reduce crime on SMI as part of a neighbourhood watch scheme
Continue to utilise its existing residents meetings to discuss crime on the island
Provide residents with Neighbourhood Watch stickers to display in windows
Working with CMT ensure formal Neighbourhood Watch scheme signage is placed around the island

Fortnightly resident led patrols

Working with Chatham Maritime Trust and Kent Police, one evening patrol will be held each fortnight in any given month.

Residents participating as part of the patrol will be provided with Hi-Viz branded Neighbourhood Watch jackets to ensure other residents are aware they are part of the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.

During the patrols, data will be collected to identifying where there are opportunities for easy thefts such as insecure vehicles, property left on display, unlocked windows, gates or sheds.

Residents affected will then be contacted about observations relating to their home during the patrol and to offer information on ways to prevent crime.

All social distancing rules will be observed during the patrol.

The key outcomes of the patrols and how many incident reports have been received will be presented as information at SMIRA residents meetings.

Residents voted in favour of the proposals in July 2020 and the scheme was launched in August 2020.