This Bank Holiday weekend has been a really good weekend, with very few incidents reported:
Maidenhead - no car crime over the weekend
Witness appeal for business burglary in Braywick Park: Over the weekend, a burglary occurred at a business premises in Braywick Park. Lock was broken into and tools of high value were stolen from the premises. If you have any information relevant to this offence, please use the online reporting facility below quoting reference number: 43200138198.
If you see anyone acting suspiciously, such as looking up and down driveways and side access points, walking along parked cars looking into cars or trying car door handles - particularly in the early hours - let us know:
We're asking you please to only call 999 if it is an emergency and 101 if it is urgent.
If you can - use our online services:
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/soh/something-youve-seen-or-heard/Community News:Fishing season: A few members of our community have asked us to remind the wider public that fishing season is currently closed, and will open on 16 June; a license is needed in order to go fishing, so please keep this in mind;
Prevention advice:Summer Burglary Campaign: with the summer soon upon us, our burglary prevention advice is centred around leaving doors and windows open for ventilation.
Please visit our dedicated Burglary Crime Prevention webpage to learn more about how you can protect your home:
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/residential-burglary/Protect your home by protecting your garden and perimeter:
Low front boundary; keep hedges and walls at the front of your house low (under one metre), so burglars have nowhere to hide.
Secure side gate; keep side gates locked at all times. Open gates mean burglars can easily access your home without being seen by passers-by or neighbours.
High side and rear boundaries with trellis and spiky defensive planting; keep hedges, walls and fences around your back garden high (over 1.8 metres). Add lightweight trellis to gates and fences and plant some prickly plants to make it harder for burglars to climb over.
Gravel driveway and path; gravel driveways and paths make it harder for burglars to go undetected.
Security light; install an outside security light so that intruders can’t approach without being seen.
Intruder alarm system; install a burglar alarm system.
Secure shed door and window; always keep your shed locked and secured. Often sheds contain valuables such as power tools and bicycles.
Never leave tools lying around; never leave tools lying around as they can be used as a way of breaking into your home.
Leaving ground floor windows, doors and patio doors open in the summer for ventilation, can give burglars the perfect opportunity. If you’re upstairs, or out of the room, even just for a few minutes, close them and help shut burglars out.
Extra steps you can take:
Consider buying a shed alarm. These are usually quite cheap but still effective.
Add an extra layer of protection to shed windows, with laminate sheets of film or internal metal grills.
Create a ‘natural defence’ against burglary:
Planting particular shrubs (in their mature or semi mature form) along garden walls and fences can make it harder for burglars to access your property or put them off completely. To maximise this effect, plant them close to each other. Consider the following:
Berberis
Osmanthus
Forget
Poncirus
Crataegus
Pyracantha
Aralia
Chaenomeles
Ribes
Oplopanax
Elaeagnus
Robinia
Colletia
Ilex
Climbing roses
Maclura
Mahonia
Ligustrum (privet), or laurel
Smilax and Zanthoxylum
Live in a ground floor flat or share a communal garden?
You can still make use of these tips by planting in front of ground floor windows to prevent easy access.
Leaving your home checklist:Whenever you go out, it’s important to leave your home secure. Getting into an ‘exit routine’ can help ensure that you don’t forget obvious, but important things, like not leaving your valuables near windows, or no lights on if it will be dark before you get home. Here’s our quick reminder on what to do just before you go out.
Become a creature of habit:
Try to get into the habit of following your own course of action when you lock up your home. This will ensure that you don’t forget anything.
Here’s what we recommend you do before you go out:
close and lock all your doors and windows, even if you’re only going out for a few minutes
double-lock any door
make sure that any valuables are out of sight
keep handbags away from the letterbox or cat flap and hide all keys including car keys, as a thief could hook keys or valuables through even a small opening
never leave car documents or ID in obvious places such as kitchens or hallways
in the evening, shut the curtains and leave lights on
if you’re out all day, then it’s advisable to use a timer device to automatically turn lights and a radio on at night
set your burglar alarm
make sure the side gate is locked
lock your shed or garage
lock your bike inside a secure shed or garage, to a robust fitting bolted to the ground or wall, like a ground anchor
