THE NEW POLICE STRUCTURE

On the 1st April Hampshire Constabulary underwent a major organisational change.

Following the recent decision that Hampshire will not be amalgamated with any other County forces, the rationale was to bring our Policing boundaries in line with Local Council boundaries and to reduce the number of Command Units from 10 to 6, renaming them as Operational Command Units (OCU's).

Alresford is now part of Winchester Rural Sector, within the Central OCU, which includes Winchester, Havant, Gosport and Fareham Districts.

The OCU Commander is Chief Superintendent Peter Goodall who will operate from Fareham Police Station. He has been in the Police since 1979.

Winchester Rural Sector has 3 Police stations, Alresford, Twyford and Bishops Waltham, each with their own Sergeant. Andy Heward remains as Sergeant at Alresford. There is one Inspector, Shaun Moore, who has many years of experience as a rural Inspector. The Sector has 22 full time Police Constables, plus 1 PCSO, 4 part time members of staff and 2 Station Enquiry officers.

While each Constable is assigned to a particular community, he or she may be required to answer calls elsewhere. This allows utilisation of officers where the demand is highest.

The changes will slightly enhance the policing of Alresford. Local Officers will work a longer period, from 0800 - 0100 hours Sunday to Thursday and until 0200 hours on Friday and Saturday. Outside of these hours, response cover will be provided by Officers from Winchester.

SCAMS

Take care if you find a card through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service). The number you are asked to call could cost you dearly - it's in Belize! Contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICTIS http://ictis.org.uk or Trading Standards on 08454 04 05 06.

This newsletter has been sponsored by the Alresford Pigs Association. We thank them for their support and ask you to help them with their fund raising efforts activities through out the coming year.

VEHICLE CRIME

Now that Spring is finally here many of you will be looking forward to getting out in the countryside. When you go by car and park up, please take care not to leave anything in the vehicle for the opportunist thief. Don't just stuff them out of sight in the boot. If you don't actually need them with you, leave them at home !

Last year we experienced very low levels of car crime. Local beauty spot car parks were well covered by the campaign of placing warning 'COBRA' cards under vehicle windscreen wipers.

Future checks to the same car parks showed that public support of this scheme was very high as most vehicles routinely displayed these cards.

COBRA was a 2004 award-winning Portsmouth Police initiative and the laminated yellow cards are still available from our Police Station. Please continue to use the cards.

Also, be alert to parking in lay-bys and on verges along country roads. The car parks were so well covered last year, that most vehicle crime offences happened to cars parked in isolated places, rather than those in rural car parks!

THE 5 W'S OF REPORTING TO THE POLICE

When you are reporting anything to the police, there is a simple way of remembering what you should tell them. This applies to all calls to the Police

  • WHO was it?
  • WHERE was it?
  • WHY are you telling them?
  • WHAT happened?
  • WHEN did it happen?

DON'T DELAY....DO IT NOW
.not tomorrow morning

CRIME IN PROGRESS 999

NON EMERGENCY 0845 045 45 45


GENERAL REMINDERS

If you have an ALARM system, then when you go away make sure there is a key holder available, who can turn it off in case of emergency/false alarm. It could cost you up to £300 if Environmental Health are called because of noise complaints, with a locksmith involved, to gain entry to your property.

Even if you don't have an alarm, do let neighbours know you are away.

It's YELLOW PAGES delivery time again ! Please take them in for a neighbour who is away when the delivery takes place.

KINGS WORTHY

A recent meeting was attended by more than a dozen Coordinators, plus Alex Stanford one of the Beat Officers for the area. Most incidents are nuisance problems and are relatively minor.

Cat Daniel, the PCSO, mingles with the youth in the area, which is having a positive impact. Crime reports to Co-ordinators are hoped to be reintroduced later in the year.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH CO-ORDINATORS

We send our best wishes to Tony Perry who is slowly recovering from a stroke earlier in the year. We do now need to find a new Co-ordinator for his (Lakes) Watch and are also still looking for new Co-ordinators for South Road, Bridge Road, Oak Hill North and Meadow Close. We are planning to establish Watches in the new developments in The Dean and Grange Road. If you know of anybody willing to take on any of these areas please contact a member of the Committee. It is important to fill the vacancies, so we can return to 100% coverage for Alresford.

PANASONIC TEL/FAX MACHINE FOR SALE

Also useful as small copier
With full instructions
£10 - but no reasonable offer refused towards Neighbourhood Watch funds.
Tel: 01962 734058

USEFUL CONTACTS

EMERGENCY 999 Crime in progress
Life in danger
Violence being used
NON -EMERGENCY
0845 045 45 45
Ask for Alresford Police Station
Contact Police officer
Report minor crime
Leave messages
ALRESFORD POLICE STATION ENQUIRY DESK
Monday - Friday 12.30 - 13.30
18.00 - 19.00
Weekends
09.30 - 10.30
18.00 - 19.00
Hampshire Constabulary website
www.hampshire.police.uk
Information on crime prevention and all Police services.

Constabulary Column

An update from Alresford's Sergeant Andy Heward

DAMAGE/NUISANCE COMPLAINTS

Last year's figures showed a 38% increase in Criminal Damage in Alresford. Due to the previous low crime rate for the town, it does not take many more occurrences to make such a dramatic difference, so whilst this rise is unacceptable it is still not a huge problem.

The perpetrators are invariably local youths, so I am trying to place as much emphasis as possible upon parental responsibility. Parents must be more aware of where their children are, who they are with and what they are up to!

Over the past couple of months I have been writing to the parents of all children we have checked, either

I expected this to generate some complaints, but am pleased to report that all the feedback I have received from parents has been positive.

Without the help of the community itself, we can not crack this rising problem. Your continued support is appreciated.

GOODBYE TO PC MCKERNON

We all wish Gus McKernon and his family the very best in his new life with the New Zealand Police. He leaves at the end of May after a total of 15 years with Hampshire Constabulary.

2005/2006 Association Committee Members
Chairman Rob Fellows 883469
Vice Chairman Chris Webb 733229
Secretary Ralph Pointer 734833
Treasurer Geoff Harris 734058
Newsletter Editor Andrew Black 732959
Rural Co-ordinator Russell Hellier 779493
Committee Ray Curtis 733629
Committee Cecil Dixon 733226
Committee (Rural) Mark Durrant 732318
Committee Margaret Filley 882419
Committee John Stevenson 738659
Press Officer Ross Curwen-Bryant 771499