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Police advice concerning 'Anti
Social Behaviour'
Following requests from a large number of residents, a Public meeting was held
in the Memorial Hall regarding the increasing levels of Anti Social Behaviour,
nuisance incidents, damage to property and motor vehicles and verbal abuse,
believed to be caused by small number of young people who live in Birch.
Sgt. Chris Willis and P.C. Mel Raven from the Southern Community Police Team
also attended this meeting, as did Councillor Peter Crowe.
Whilst the Police are currently investigating the reported offences it became
apparent that a number of incidents, where damage to property such as damage
to Christmas lights, had not been reported to them. This meant that the
Police could not accurately evaluate the degree of
the problem. A number of residents commented that they had not reported
incidents, due to the relatively minor nature of what had occurred.
To
address the above concerns the Police encouraged
those present to report crimes to them, (please see below for helpful guidance
notes), but it was acknowledged that there might be occasions when a resident
may simply wish to pass on information which they do not want to have formally
recorded as a crime and which does not need a Police
Officer to attend personally. Some residents
suggested that the Parish Council web site might be a helpful route to pass on
such information. The Police
were supportive of this proposal.
The
advice from the Police is as follows:
·
If you need Police
in an emergency - call
999.
·
If you wish to report a crime and wish the
Police to attend call Colchester
Police Station on 762212.
·
If you wish to report a crime and anticipate
that there is no obvious value in a Police
Officer attending personally, call Colchester Police
Station on 762212 and ask for the ‘Crime Desk’, who will make a formal record
of the offence.
·
When a crime has ‘not’ been committed (This
may include acts of anti-social behaviour which haven’t resulted in a
‘criminal offence’ i.e. Criminal Damage) and you wish to pass
information to the Police of a ‘non’ urgent
nature, then please contact your local Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator.
Your local Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator is Rob Farmer, Rob can be reached on
331119 or via the Parish Clerkby email to
birchparishclerk@aol.com Be sure to leave
your name, address and telephone number as well as a brief description of
the incident including date and time. If you recognise the perpetrator,
report that as well. All incidents will be forwarded to the Community
Policing Team. If you wish to be contacted following an incident by a Parish
Councillor, please include that request along with your message.
We all have the right to live our lives peacefully and in safety and nobody
has the right to cause damage to property, intimidate and verbally abuse
people. This is going on in your community now and you
are asked to play your part in stopping this menace.
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