At this week’s Town Council meeting, a range of local issues were discussed with PCSO Charlie Symes as detailed below. The police are not always able to attend our meetings due to resourcing but we had specifically requested a visit following the Cotswold Store robbery.
- The Northleach Local Police Report for Parish Feb 2018 was discussed. This shows data for the 3-month period of November, December 2017 and January 2018 compared to the same period the previous year. The number of “incidents” reported from the Parish over the last 3 months was 64. The number of incidents related to crimes that were then dealt with by the police was 8 compared to 17 for the previous year. It was explained that sometimes one incident can be reported as different “events” and that often people do not want to progress an incident they have reported.
- The armed robbery at The Cotswold Stores is not included in these figures as it occurred after the report cut off. This is being handled by the Criminal Investigation Departments (CID) with limited involvement by local officers due to its serious nature. As it is an ongoing investigation they were unable to comment further.
- Although not reflected in the attached report, PCSO Symes said that the biggest rise in crime locally has been thefts from unlocked cars. Please ensure your cars are locked at all times and expensive items removed or out of sight.
- There has been a series of number plate thefts between 17:00 on 16th February 2018 and 08:00 on 17th February. Person, or persons unknown removed both number plates from a black Audi A3 that was parked opposite the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Northleach. This case has been allocated Incident number 120 of 17/02/2018. During the same period a number of cars parked in Hampnett also had their number plates stolen. This case has been allocated Incident number 125 of 17/02/2018. At approximately 02:00 on 17/02/2018 a resident of West End, Northleach believes they heard a disturbance outside their house. At 09:50 on that morning, they discovered that both number plates had been removed from their black Audi A3. This case has been allocated Incident number 144 of 17/02/2018. Initially these thefts related to specific cars but they are seeing this trend increasing across other cars types.
You can contact the police by ringing 101 or by email to 101@gloucestershire.police.uk. In an emergency call 999. Alternatively you may report any information you have anonymously to Crimestoppers by ringing 0800 555111 or at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
Kind regards
Cat Crompton, Town Clerk