December Sussex Alerts

Sussex Alerts December 2025 

Welcome to your last Sussex Alerts of the year.  

I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and are looking forward to  a New Year.  

Crime figures for Decembers are as follows:    

Burglary: 1 

06/12: Carden Avenue, Residential burglary 

Criminal damage: 3 

30/12: The Deeside: Tyres slashed 

29/12: Carden Avenue-damage to bus windscreen  

09/12: Tansation, Carden Avenue- shop damaged 

Vehicle Crime : 1 

28/12: London Road: Theft from vehicle.  

Once again, crime figures for Patcham and Hollingbury are low.  

Crime Prevention Advice:  

Educational awareness  

This month is around Phishing (Scam)  

“'Phishing' is when criminals use scam emails, text messages or phone calls to trick their victims. The aim is often to make you visit a website, which may download a virus onto your computer, or steal bank details or other personal information.”  

How to spot a scam  

Authority  

Is the message claiming to be from someone official? For example, your bank, doctor, a solicitor, or a government department. Criminals often pretend to be important people or organisations to trick you into doing what they want.   

Urgency  

Are you told you have a limited time to respond (such as 'within 24 hours' or 'immediately')? Criminals often threaten you with fines or other negative consequences.  

Emotion  

Does the message make you panic, fearful, hopeful or curious? Criminals often use threatening language, make false claims of support, or tease you into wanting to find out more.  

Scarcity  

Is the message offering something in short supply, like concert tickets, money or a cure for medical conditions? Fear of missing out on a good deal or opportunity can make you respond quickly.  

Current events  

Are you expecting to see a message like this? Criminals often exploit current news stories, big events or specific times of year (like tax reporting) to make their scam seem more relevant to you.  

More information can be seen bellow with the link attached.   

Source of information: Phishing: Spot and report scam emails, texts, websites and... - NCSC.GOV.UK  

Visits attended  

This month, a colleague of mine and I attended DOWNS VIEW SCHOOL. We had the opportunity to speak to youths who had questions and provide assurance to police being approachable. This will be something I also do next month. I welcome school visits, as it allows children to see that police are in fact there not just for the wrong reasons/ change the perception of bad connotations with police.  

If you would like me to attend any other community meetings or events, please submit a request through the Sussex Police website using my collar number 43598.  

I hope you found this month’s ward update to be informative and look forward to giving out the next monthly update!  

Community Meeting: Our next meeting will be held at the Old Boat Community Centre at 2pm on 6th December 2025. Local Councillor Anne Meadows will be joining Tillie and I for the meeting.  

Whilst we appreciate the attendance of regular residents it will be great to encourage new faces to come along 😊  

Sarah and Tillie