Success story - How was it achieved?

Success story - How was it achieved?

Hopefully you will have read the Met Engage success story from the police circulated earlier today (linked here) regarding the 8 arrests made by Hillingdon officers in relation to stolen jewellery.

The thefts were initiated by a well-rehearsed distraction leading to the theft of a necklace, bracelet or other gold item from the distracted victim. Victims often lost treasured family heirlooms and were left distraught after the event, embarrassed at being conned.

Working together

It is significant that in four of the incidents the initial information sent to the police was from members of Neighbourhood Watch in response to appeals circulated.

This proactive approach by our members was crucial in providing detectives with the CCTV and witness information required to identify the vehicles and suspects involved and progress these cases to an arrest.

This was excellent team work by the police working with our members and the victims.

You will note in the police report that since these arrests were made, no further incidents of this type have been reported on our Borough.

What can you do to help achieve more successes?

To see this type of success repeated for other crimes on our Borough it is important please that everyone follows the process:

REPORT IT
If a crime isn't reported then nothing will happen. The police can only act on what they know, not on what they don't know.
Reporting a crime only on social media and hoping that things will somehow get better is not an approach that will ever work. All of the methods of contacting the police are set out on our home page at www.hillingdonnhw.co.uk

REACT TO APPEALS
If you receive a Met Engage or Neighbourhood Watch message asking whether you could check your CCTV for a specific event, please help by taking the time to do that.
We have seen first hand crimes that have progressed to arrest and charge because a curious resident checked their cameras and spotted a vehicle at an odd hour at the time of the crime in question. That timeline information alone can lead to a more rapid and focused search of local CCTV.

JOIN CCTV WATCH
If you have a CCTV system and haven't yet registered it on the Alerts system then you can do that by following our simple instructions at https://www.hillingdonnhw.co.uk/information/cctv-watch Every member that registers helps officers to identify viable sources of CCTV close to a crime scene more quickly on an interactive map.

ASK YOUR NEIGHBOURS TO JOIN!
If you're reading this for the first time on social media, then why not join Neighbourhood Watch yourself and receive crime-related information first hand to your inbox? We're the largest volunteer-led crime prevention charity in England and Wales, with Hillingdon having the highest membership across all 32 of London's Boroughs. It's free to join and you can join us using the link at the top of the following page: https://www.hillingdonnhw.co.uk/contact/join-us

Thank you for your continued support of the police and Neighbourhood Watch on Hillingdon Borough.

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Message Sent By
Dave Ludlow
(NWN, MSA, London, Hillingdon)