Crime: 22 August 2014

Sorry, there was no message On Wednesday.  I was at the Retirement Fair in Ascot Race Course all day.  My congratulations, to Cllr David Hilton and Christine Horsfield.  They have done a brilliant job, it was bigger and better than ever.  From the moment the doors opened, we were surrounded all day, handing out advice and leaflets.  PC Pete Bullett from the Ascot Team was there, as was PCSO Andrew Sin – it was his first event of this kind and the public loved him !  We also had RBWM Community Wardens Ben Page and Lorraine Rellis, who charmed the visitors.
 
Can I express my sincere gratitude to all those that came up and thanked me, for the messages I put out.  I hope – me in person – was not a disappointment !
 
What was really enjoyable, was meeting and catching up with old friends, who come to our meetings and attend year after year.  We sometimes only meet once a year, but I love keeping in contact.
 
The star of our stand at the Fair, was the Fake TV, which we had working on display.  Though I heavily promote it, it is only when you actually see it working, you understand just how clever that little box is.  I did receive one very positive comment from someone who had bought one, on our recommendation.  He had been away on holiday and when he saw a neighbour on his return, they said – ‘I didn’t know you came back early’ ?  ‘I didn’t’, he replied.  ‘Oh’, they said – ‘We thought someone was at home, watching the TV’ – TA DA !  That is the message in a nutshell.  If neighbours thought you were home and it looks that realistic, it will certainly fool our Opportunist Thieves.  Even if they ring the doorbell to see if anyone is at home, you could be inside - watching TV and decide not to answer the door.  A brilliant piece of kit worth every penny.  Simply Google ‘Fake TV’ there are a lot of suppliers, but on Amazon, I believe they are £26.99.
 
For details of Fake TV - Click Here
 
NEXT A WARNING FROM PC STEVE BAGGALEY
 
We have just a case of the Cash Till Scam.  You are in a queue to use the cash till.  When it is your turn you withdraw money.  Just as the money is dispensed a woman who is standing behind you says – ‘Is that your £10 / £5 note on the floor’ ?  As you look round, an accomplice reaches over and removes the cash, being dispensed from the cash machine !!!  By the time you turn back, both he and your money is gone.  You just believe the cash till has made a mistake and if the bank is open, go inside.  When using a cash till in the street, please be aware of who is around you.  In this case it was £5 on the floor, but the thieves got away with considerably more than that – their investment in the scam !!!!
 
MAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
20/8  Wednesday 7.15 p.m.  Disused Nursery, Shifford Crescent. A witness saw a group of lads in the nursery causing considerable damage and setting fires.  The police were called and attended immediately.  4 youths were arrested on suspicion of causing Criminal Damage.
18/8 – 19/8  Monday 1.10 p.m. / Tuesday 8.30 a.m.  Sheephouse Road.  Shed break – POSSIBLY LEFT INSECURE – 3 bikes, computer accessories, lights and water sports equipment stolen.  1.  A valuable, ladies, pink & white, Boardman mountain bike.  2.  A very valuable Trek Fuelex Mountain bike.  3.  An extremely valuable Trek Fuelex9 mountain bike.
22/8  Friday 2.45 a.m.  Boyn Valley Industrial Estate.  Car repair shop on the Industrial estate.  Alarm activation with immediate police attendance.  Area search carried out but no-one located.  When the keyholder arrived they discovered a rear fire exit door had been forced.  A small cash box had been forced open, but it had not contained any money.  The thieves tried to exit via the front door, causing damage, but could not and had to leave by the rear.  Nothing stolen.
22/8  Friday 0.40 a.m.  Unit, Boyn Valley Industrial Estate.  Warehouse entered via the roof.  2 offices searched.  Small amount of cast stolen from a cash box.  The offenders have then sprayed everything with fire extinguishers to remove forensic evidence and exited via the roof – they may have been disturbed by the alarm.
20/8  3 a.m.  Ray Park Avenue.  The owner’s car was left on the driveway locked.  During the night, they were awoken by their dog barking.  In the morning they found the car unlocked and undamaged, but it had been searched messily – sunglasses stolen.
20/8  Wednesday  midnight / 8 a.m.  Boulter’s Close.  The owner of a car was walking their dog, when they found their sunglasses case, which had been in their car, on the ground !  The car had been LEFT UNLOCKED OVERNIGHT.  Packet of Polos and £1 in loose change stolen.
20/8  Wednesday 7.30 p.m. – 10.45 p.m.  Boulter’s Lock Island.  The owner had parked their car and gone to dinner.  When they returned they found both rear windows smashed. iPOD, Lenova LAPTOP, holdall and mobile stolen.  The owner has since received a call from a resident in Beaconsfield to say that they have found her holdall abandoned near his house.
21/8  Thursday 1.45 p.m. / 4 p.m.  Tennis Club, Grenfgell place.  Locked up bike stolen from outside.  A gent’s. Grey & red, Carrera Vengence mountain bike.
19/8 – 20/8  Tuesday 9.30 p.m. / Wednesday 9.15 a.m.  Cliveden Mead. Car POSSIBLY LEFT INSECURE !!! – messy search not known if anything stolen.
 
 
MAIDENHEAD WEST
BISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
20/8  Wednesday 2 a.m.  Milley Road, Waltham St Lawrence.  The owner was awoken and saw a man walking down his drive.  The man opened the gate, closed it slowly and walked away.  When he went to investigate, he found a stable had been broken into – the door forced, but nothing had been stolen.
19/8 – 20/8  Tuesday 7 p.m. / Wednesday 8 a.m.  College of Agriculture, Burchetts Green.  Someone has broken into a workshop and removed a car being worked on by students.  It was moved into a field and burnt out.
19/8  Tuesday noon / 2 p.m.  Burchetts Green Road.  Car driver’s door lock damaged – no entry gained.
20/8 – 21/8  Wednesday 5.10 p.m. / Thursday 8.10 a.m.  Nursery, Henley Road.  A van was broken into and pushed out of the way so that thieves could access a large metal container.  A spade, rake, saw, shears, 2 power drills, a professional valuable lawnmower and a very valuable Hayter lawnmower stolen.
19/8 – 20/8  Tuesday 7 p.m. / Wednesday 8 a.m.  High Street, Cookham.  Nail varnish remover or other chemical has been poured over the bonnet and radiator of a car.
 
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
maidenheadwestnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
22/8  Friday 6.45 a.m.  St Matthews Court.  The owner was asleep, when they received a call from a neighbour to say that someone was in their back gardens and was fence hopping.  When they went to investigate, no-one was there, but there had been an attempt to force open his shed door, by ripping out a wooden panel.
21/8 – 22/8  Thursday 10.30 p.m. / Friday 9 a.m.  Bath Road.  Aerial and wing mirror damaged on a car.
 
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
BOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
Your Neighbourhood Page on TVP's Website - Click Here
19/8  Tuesday 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.  Church Close.  Burglary.  Entry via an UNLOCKED rear door.  Handbag and purse stolen.
15/8 – 18/8  Friday 3.30 p.m. / Monday 1 p.m.  Cafe, Oaken Grove.  Tomato sauce sprayed over the building and gouge marks in the walls of the building.  A metal service hatch has been forced open, but there was no attempt to enter the building.
 
OLDFIELD & BRAY:
maidenheadsouthnhpt@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
 
MEMBERS’ COMMENTS:
I have had this in from Roger:
 
Hi Jeff, I have now had a second email through from the Toll Road system in Belgium !  I ignored the first one – can you confirm this is a scam ?
 
The email is all logoed up correctly, but is addressed – ‘dear customer’  They don’t know who Roger is, but apparently his car went on a Belgian toll road without paying.  You have to presume they have his car index to trace him – so they should have his name.  I doubt if the DVLA has his email recorded against the car index  ???  there is also a ‘click here’ – for more details !  Real indications this is a scam.  Anything like this must be BINNED immediately.  If you open the attachment, or respond in any way, the computer, which generated the email randomly, knows it is a live email address, to be saved to another list – making it much more valuable to sell onto other scammers.  The computer tries every alphabetical and numerical combination.  Occasionally, it hits a real email format.  The rest just go no-where.
 
 
THE WINDOWS / MICROSOFT / BT SCAM:
 
Hi Jeffrey
 
The Alerts are so very useful and informative - thank you to everyone involved.
 
Since you mentioned in the last message that the Windows Scam is rife, my 70 year old mother in Austria, had a call from the "Windows Corporation" the other day.
 
She said she would switch on her PC and asked the "Windows man" to ring back. Luckily, she then thought it a bit odd and gave me a ring.
 
The rest is history.
 
Keep up the informative and good work!
 
Many thanks
Gudrun
 
I want to thank Gudrun and everyone else.  I can spread the word to you, but you are obviously passing it onto friends, family and work colleagues.  That is what the Alert system and NHW is all about.  We all work together to protect everyone we know.  A big thank you.
 
 
From PCSO Dave Bullock - the Windsor Town Centre Team:
 
Hi Jeff – can you put out this request please ?
 
More volunteers needed for Windsor Street Angels
 
Windsor Street Angels were set up on 2012 and since then, the project has proved to be a great success.  It offers support and care to vulnerable people in Windsor Town Centre every Friday night
 
This year alone, the teams of volunteers have helped over 1500 people, from providing flip flops and lollies, to helping people who are lost, by reuniting them with friends.  In some cases we have administered vital first aid.
 
The teams have also signposted a number of those helped, to other agencies and have even helped the homeless, by providing blankets and soup. They will also occasionally assist other agencies when needed and have recently highlighted environmental issues that need attention.
 
Dressed in their royal blue jackets, equipped with a rucksack containing their equipment and a retail radio that links them with CCTV, doorstaff and the police, the teams patrol the Town Centre every Friday, from 10pm through to 4am the next morning.
 
As well as offering volunteers the chance to make a real difference in their community, the project is also a great deal of fun with likeminded individuals coming together to do as much good as they can.  The role of a ‘Street Angel’ also offers a great deal of variety, with no two Friday shifts, being the same.
 
Windsor Street Angels now reach beyond the borders of the Town Centre and this year, for the first time, the volunteers assisted at Royal Ascot. This was a great experience for all those involved.  The teams helped over 200 people, over the three days.
 
Volunteers must be 18 or over and will need to undertake a short training programme, which includes among other topics, Conflict Management, First Aid, Homelessness and Observational Skills.
 
Anyone interested in joining Windsor Street Angels or finding out more about the initiative can do so by contacting PCSO David Bullock on david.bullock@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk or by dialing 101 and asking to speak to PCSO 9346 Dave Bullock.
 
Regards
 
David
 
PCSO C9346 David Bullock | Police Community Support Officer
Central Windsor Neighbourhood Team
Address Thames Valley Police,
Windsor Police Station,
Alma Road,
Windsor, SL4 3ES
 
 
AND FROM THE BOROUGH:
 
Did you know that you can help local groups and projects in the borough scoop up to £5,000, for projects helping your neighbourhood ?
 
RBWM gives local organisations, schools and charities the chance to net funding from the council’s Neighbourhood budget. The projects with the highest number of votes every two months are considered by the Participatory Budget panel and possibly awarded up to £2,000 (with the possibility of a further financial boost of up to £2,000 in match funding). 
 
All you have to do is go online and vote for your favourite projects through RBWM’s neighbourhood PB scheme.  Projects attracting the most votes or Greenredeem points can receive funding towards projects that can make a difference to your community.
 
The most recent winning projects, agreed by the August meeting of the Cabinet Participatory Budget Sub Committee, were:
 
• £2,000 to Bray and Holyport Scout Group – with a further £2,000 in match-funding.
• £1,000 and a further £1,000 match-funding for Community Services for people with Dementia and their carers 
• £1,000 or Berkshire East and South Bucks Women’s Aid.
 
You are also able to donate your Greenredeem points.  Projects must reach a target of 200,000 points to receive £1,000, residents can donate the points they earn by recycling to projects they feel most worthy.  To view the projects in the running Click Here and log-in to support your favourite project. Encourage your family and friends who live in the borough to donate too - they all add up to well-deserved support for projects that help our local community
 
The Neighbourhood Budgets scheme has been running since 2011, more information about Neighbourhood Budgets and the Greenredeem Scheme can be seen by following this link Vote for a project
 
The closing date for the current round is 5 pm on Monday 13 October 2014.  The results will be considered by the Cabinet Participatory Budget Sub Committee on Monday 20 October 2014 and the result announced afterwards.
 
Katie Butcher
Policy and Performance Officer
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead,
Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1RF.
For more information please contact Katie Butcher on:
T: 01628 683126
E: katie.butcher@rbwm.gov.uk