Agenda item

Thames Valley Police Update

To hear an update from Thames Valley Police on policing and crime in Maidenhead.

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the order of agenda items was changed, so that Thames Valley Police Update would be considered first.

 

Catherine Griffiths, Thames Valley Police, gave the Forum an update on recent crime in Maidenhead. In the last 31 days:

 

Theft from cars & vans:

·         Car diver’s window smashed – 10

·         Vehicle entered by unknown means – 4

·         Index Plates stolen – 2

·         Theft while stopped at traffic lights – 1

 

Theft of a motor vehicle:

·         Cars - 4

·         Audi A3, Land Rover Defender, Mazda 2S (found by owner – forgot where it was parked), Volvo S 40, VW Golf, Ford Focus.

·         Motor Bikes – 1 (Kowasaki 100 E8F motorbike)

·         Disability Scooter – 1

·         Vans – 2 (Peugeot Partner van, Ford Transit van)

·         Theft of Bicycles - 5

 

Burglary – which included houses – sheds garages & outbuildings – businesses – building sites:

·         Burglary Dwelling – 3

·         Attempted Burglary Dwelling – 2

·         Sheds Garages & outbuildings – 3

·         Businesses – 2

·         Building sites – 2

 

·         Assaults - 32

 

·         Public Order offences - 15

 

·         Racially aggravated offences – 7

 

 

Catherine Griffiths confirmed that there had been no major issues relating to Euro 2020 in Maidenhead or Windsor.

 

The Chairman asked what Catherine Griffith’s opinion was of the resident who painted the England flag on some roundabouts in Maidenhead.

 

Catherine Griffiths said that she had no objection to that but would need to understand the context from a police perspective in case there was an issue.

 

Jeff Pick explained that often missing cars were due to members of the public forgetting where they had parked. Burglaries were generally down on usual figures as it was harder for thieves to predict when residents would be home. Much of the car crime around Maidenhead was due to a few individuals who had now been arrested.

 

Councillor Baldwin asked if any of the cycle thefts had occurred from the new lock up at the train station.

 

Jeff Pick said that if a theft occurred on station property then it would fall under the responsibility of British Transport Police. Cycle thefts were hard to spot when they were in progress but having a number of locking devices made it easier to prevent.

 

Councillor Bond said that the community speed watch scheme included members of the local community who were concerned about speeding. He had noted that the support for the scheme could end after 19th July but in Windsor the volunteers would continue to work in conjunction with the police.

 

Catherine Griffiths said that she was not aware of an issue with the Maidenhead scheme but there were a number of volunteers who could assist the police on projects like speed watch.

 

Jeff Pick explained that volunteers would not be used until the Covid situation was better. Communication messages would be sent out when volunteers would be able to join.

 

Councillor Taylor said that video doorbells were useful in recording suspicious behaviour outside homes. She asked if the information was being sent to and used by the police.

 

Jeff Pick said that there had been a lot of promotional work undertaken on the security benefits of video doorbells and the response had been fantastic. People had been sending in footage of suspicious activity which had been captured by video doorbells and this could be used to see which roads and times were a target for criminals.

 

Councillor Singh asked how the number of crimes compared to previous months and where most crimes took place in the town.

 

Catherine Griffiths said that there were different hot spots for different crimes and she would be happy to find the figures.

 

ACTION – Catherine Griffiths to send Councillor Singh figures relating to different crime spots around Maidenhead.

 

Councillor Rayner joined the meeting.

 

Councillor Bhangra thanked Catherine Griffiths and her team for all their hard work. He received the monthly newsletter from Mike Darrah and it was pleasing to see that crime was down overall. However, Councillor Bhangra had noticed that sexual offences had increased and asked if there was any reason for this.

 

Catherine Griffiths said that she would take this away and find out if there was any reason linked to the number of offences that had recently occurred.

 

ACTION – Catherine Griffiths to report back to Councillor Bhangra if there was an explanation for the increase in sexual offences over the past month.

 

Councillor G Jones said that he had come across drug bags when out on walks. He asked how these should be sent to the police to deal with.

 

Jeff Pick said that the neighbourhood teams could be emailed and they would be able to investigate.

 

Councillor Baldwin said that he reported all drug related material to the police, they could take custodial action and also worked with local communities on things like resilience.