EIGHT REPORTS OF A SUSPICIOUS MAN GOING DOOR TO DOOR IN SHURLOCK ROW, CANNON LANE & PINEBEAMS:
Several residents phoned the police and a lot of social media reports, of a man who was knocking on front doors, between 6 p.m. / 7 p.m. in Shurlock Row. Each reported that he looked upset and said - ‘I need help - I’ve lost my wallet’. ‘Your neighbour gave me a bottle of water and I need some food’. One person targeted, went to their neighbours as soon as he had left, to ask if they had helped him and each said, they had not even seen him and he did not call on them.
He is described as possibly late 30s, wearing a dark jacket with the hood up and something like a grey blanket wrapped, around his legs. He was riding around on a bike.
Another resident in Cannon Lane reported a similar incident:
The resident there, states that a man had knocked on his door at 5:50 a.m. and his video doorbell, recorded footage of the incident. The man spoke with a foreign accent and said that he has lost his wallet. The footage also shows that before he knocked on the door, he had been looking into the caller’s car. He knocked, when he realised they had a video doorbell.
The man then left, heading north towards the A404 without stopping at the next door neighbour’s address. The caller watched him get on a silver GT mountain bike.
Description of the man – White, 5’ 10’’ – 6’ 2’’ - Bald head under his green hoody, carrying a black rucksack - long sweatshirt, which looks like a skirt - black trousers and black slip on shoes.
And another call from Pinebeams yesterday:
A caller reported a suspicious man knocking on her door around 6 a.m. that morning.
Thank you to all those people who rang this through. By doing that, the police can circulate a warning, to everyone else to remain alert. This man was out and about from the early morning to mid evening, knocking on doors. It may be that he really needs our assistance.
If you see anything suspicious, keep those calls coming.
Generally, there is a 20 minute delay, while people ask themselves – ‘Should I phone this through’ ? ‘Was it suspicious enough, for me to bother the police’ ? Eventually - ‘Was it even suspicious’ ? ‘That man who sends the Alert messages, says I should report it and let them make the decision’. ‘Should I – shouldn’t I’
This internal dialogue usually takes about 20 minutes and then, you end up phoning anyway – just in case.
There is a concept of ‘THE GOLDEN HOUR’. That is the hour after a crime takes place, when we can do the most to solve a crime, catch an offender and assist a victim. A suspicious person can be quite a distance away in 20 minutes and that makes it more difficult to locate them and find out if everything is in order.
If the person – as for example possibly in this case – actually is genuine and really is in need of help and assistance that 20 minutes, will make it harder for us to find him – particularly as he is on a bike and we do not know his direction of travel.
If it is just a suspicious car / person, out of place in your community, it is even more vital that we get that information as quickly as possible. Another concept for you – ‘THE JIGSAW PRINCIPLE’. You don’t know which part of the puzzle you have witnessed – you just know something is ‘odd’. It may be a car used in a crime parked up in a quiet road after committing a crime, in case the police are out looking for them. They may be parked up quietly, before committing a crime. Someone walking up and down driveways, paying too much attention to side access, looking into windows, checking out the security.
We all have finely tuned instincts. We all know the speed cars drive up and down our roads – we have seen that day after day for years, so someone driving too slowly, paying too much attention to each house, examining them for crime opportunities – immediately draws your attention – and that inner dialogue says – ‘what are they up to‘ ?
We all know how quickly and disinterestedly, leaflet deliverers go up and down driveways pushing flyers through letter boxes – and - we totally ignore them. Someone, paying too much attention to windows / access – again - draws our attention – we don’t know why – we just know, we look and watch them. We will never tie these incidents to a car crime / burglary, which takes place some time later.
If you think something is ‘suspicious’, or your attention is drawn to something and you think – ‘what are they doing’ – let us know. You can use the 101 number and say – ‘you are just passing us intelligence and do not need a police visit or action’. You can also do it online. Your electronic report, goes through to exactly the same place, for action.
The calls we received yesterday, were all discussed at this morning's briefing with all our policing teams. We take your calls very seriously. They help us to target and organise our resources and patrol plans, around them.
