Theft From Motor Vehicles - Theft of Tools (Vans)

Theft From Motor Vehicles - Theft of Tools (Vans)

Hello Samantha, 
Thank you for your message/feedback, and huge apologies for the very late reply, as for some reason, I thought my reply had been sent to you, but there appeared to have been a technical error.

My apologies that my message came across as insensitive. That was not my intention, but I do appreciate you telling me how it came across to you. 

Regarding Vehicle Crime, various Forces use the hashtag/strapline – ‘Lock it or Lose it’ and on reflection, it does sound a bit harsh. The reason being is that many of the thefts from vehicles are cars that are quite often left insecure/unlocked. Police try to encourage vehicle owners to think about not leaving their vehicle vulnerable to criminals. 
But in general, many vans containing high value items are kept locked, so I do agree, that it was not ideal to use that hashtag on this occasion, and I will in future use something more suitable.  

I’m sorry to hear you were a victim of crime earlier this year, despite the crime prevention that you implemented. Regarding our area patrols, if there is a crime series or pattern of offending, we would immediately add that area to our Neighbourhood ‘Hotspot’ area patrol plan. 

Our Hedge End North Neighbourhood team consists of one Sgt, one DNO (Designated Neighbourhood Officer), 4 PCs, and 3 PCSOs and we cover quite a large area – Hedge End, West End and Town Hill, Botley and Boorley Park. Our ‘Hotspot’ patrols change regularly depending on the daily reports/stats that we receive. Generally, the busiest areas of Crime and ASB will receive the most ‘Hotspot’ patrols. But if we receive specific Intel, we will cover other areas (sometimes covertly or uniformed patrols).

With regard to Hampshire Alert messages and Facebook posts, there is no strict criteria for sending out posts. We unfortunately can’t post about every crime we deal with, but we will send out what we believe is important whenever possible. We don’t have an admin team at Hedge End Police station, therefore it is generally down to the PCSOs to send out post’s as and when they can. 
But our Hampshire Police Corporate Comms team also send out general updates and crime prevention information too. Often the Sgts and Inspector will ask for a post to go out about specific issue that they deem important.

Police have been running ‘Operation Springhare’ this Autumn, which is a force-wide response to tackle the handling of stolen goods and the criminal markets that enable acquisitive crime to thrive. Hampshire Police work with many local partner agencies in order to disrupt, identify, and target offenders who profit from stolen property.

We work with local authorities, Community Safety teams, Local Authorities, Trading Standards, Crimestoppers, Business Crime networks, local Town and Parish councils, Crime Commissioner, Retail managers, various different police teams and more, in order to develop Intel that helps to identify handlers, disposal routes, OCGs (organised crime gangs), and emerging criminal markets. 
We also encourage people to report where they know stolen goods are being sold. Members of the public can report 100% anonymously. Crimestoppers have launched a poster and information campaign to support this.

In answer to your question regarding Car Boot Sales, yes police do patrol these type of events and liaise with the organisers. In the past, stolen tools have been seized, but on regular occasions, it can be difficult to reunite the tools with owners, because many are not on property registers, or do not retain the serial numbers that can assist us.

We encourage property marking and registration of tools and recommend - Secured by Design - Selecta DNA Asset Marking kit and Secure Asset Register (SAR) or Immobilise.com
If you would like a Selecta DNA Marking kit, we have a few left at the station and I can arrange for one to be delivered to you.

Kind regards, 
Tracey  
PCSO 14468 Chilcott 
Hedge End North – Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT)