To receive an update from Thames Valley Police on crime around Maidenhead.

Jeff Pick, Thames Valley Police, explained that he had circulated the latest crime stats to the Forum in advance of the meeting. There had been lots of cars being left unlocked, which made them easy targets. A brand new electric Jaguar had been stolen and tracked to Staines, where it disappeared. A stolen Land Rover was also tracked to Staines before it disappeared. Jeff Pick would be working with Susy Shearer and the Windsor and Maidenhead Cycle Forum to do some work on preventing bike thefts.

Councillor G Jones asked if there were any stats for crimes that had been solved or concluded.

Jeff Pick explained that the way crimes were recorded made it difficult to provide a figure. Crimes could only be concluded if an individual was charged, but this could take months and court convictions could be up to a year down the line.

Councillor Bhangra said that there had been a number of car thefts in Boyne Hill and asked what the police were doing to prevent this from happening. He said that a resident had been unable to report an attempted burglary to Thames Valley Police.

Jeff Pick said that he was helping to run a number of crime prevention evenings across the borough. Many thieves had been using relay boosters to steal cars and video doorbells could be used to capture important footage.

Councillor Bond said that the council had recently been consulting on an Active Travel plan but there had been a worrying increase in bike thefts. He was surprised that there were bike thefts reported outside David Lloyd leisure centre in King Street, as this was a busy area.

Jeff Pick explained that thieves would put their backpack on the bike and rummage through the cables which helped to disguise what they were doing. The police were unsure of what the stolen bikes were used for. A leaflet had been produced which showed how to lock up a bike safely and securely.

Councillor Davey asked if Members of the Forum could receive a copy of the leaflet so that they could distribute it to residents and raise awareness.

ACTION – Clerk to distribute a copy of the leaflet to Members of the Forum.

Councillor Davey asked what the issue was with Jaguar cars that were being targeted.

Jeff Pick explained that thieves were using relays which allowed them to boost key fob signals and steal cars. Other car makers had security features that made this more difficult, for example, Tesla required a card to be inserted into the car or it was locked at a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour. It was recommended that key fobs were kept in a Faraday cage to block the signal. Experiments showed that the key fob signals could travel quite far so this was important. The police were investigating where cars went after they were stolen.

Councillor G Jones asked if the police had used a tracker bike as a decoy for bike thefts.

Jeff Pick confirmed that a bike tracker had been used, however this counted as surveillance so special permission was needed.

Doug Watts asked if CCTV was working properly in the town centre.

Jeff Pick said that it was working well but much of the car crime was on individual streets around Maidenhead. Things like video doorbells would provide crucial evidence of crimes in more residential roads.

Doug Watts noted that there was a camera on King Street and asked if this had picked up the incident outside the Rose pub which had happened recently.

Jeff Pick said it he did not know for certain but assumed that it probably was.

Councillor Singh said that there used to be a significant number of police in Maidenhead but this had diminished in recent years.

Jeff Pick explained that there had been a number of the travelling community causing issues in Windsor so police resources had been moved to help deal with it.

Councillor Singh had looked into the crime stats comparison for Maidenhead and Windsor and it was clear to him that there were more crimes occurring in Maidenhead than Windsor.

Jeff Pick explained that context was required when considering crime stats, as each category was generalised. For example, someone losing their laptop could be considered as a burglary, when it actually was not.

Councillor Singh said that he would like the two towns, Maidenhead and Windsor, compared in the crime stats. He felt that Maidenhead crime was rising each month.

Councillor Bowden joined the meeting.

Jeff Pick said that he would ask Catherine Griffiths if the stats could be analysed to ensure that they accurately showed the level of crime in Maidenhead.

ACTION – Jeff Pick to liaise with Catherine Griffiths about the crime stats for Maidenhead.

Jeff Pick explained that Thames Valley Police would no longer be involved in the community speed watch project. The project would be undertaken by individual streets that wanted to take part, they would register on the website with funding being provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner. The necessary kit was then sent out to residents, with the council being able to see which streets had particular speeding problems.

Councillor Davey asked how the project worked legally without police support.

Jeff Pick said that residents needed to apply on the website and explain where the speed watch would be taking place. Any motorists that were caught speeding were then sent a letter which was designed to educate them to the dangers of exceeding the speed limit. This could be escalated if needed, for example if the same motorist was caught multiple times then the police could look to take enforcement action.

The police were also planning to run a number of community meetings across the borough and Jeff Pick asked that if any Members were able to provide free venues, to let him know.

Councillor Bowden commented that there had been a discussion at Windsor Town Forum the previous week on the changes to the speed watch programme. It was planned to be considered by the Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel in October. Goswell Way was an area where no speed watch could be done and Councillor Bowden believed that it was a problem area.

Jeff Pick confirmed that community wardens could still investigate areas even when they were not appropriate for a community speed watch to take place.