FIRST: A CASE OF ANOTHER COLD CALLER / ROGUE TRADER / BOGUS BUILDER:
The aggrieved is mentally fine, however is vulnerable due to age, poor eye sight etc. in hindsight, he admits he should have stuck to his initial thoughts to refuse the work.
A man cold called at the door, trying his luck and managed to obtain £50 from the aggrieved, for possible clearing work carried out on porch and gutter.
The aggrieved says the man was a bit pushy and initially accepted £20, but added a bit of pressure for aggrieved to pay fee of £50. The aggrieved says that the man was not aggressive, but more a bit pressuring.
The aggrieved was given strong advice about not buying at the door again.
The attending officer thought this was an opportunist rogue trader. The house looks like an older person’s house as there is a visible key safe box on wall !
We generally recommend that all key safes be places in a discrete location, to prevent houses being targeted in this way.
NEXT: KEYLESS CAR THEFT:
I have spoken to several victims of ‘keyless car thefts’. They were unaware of the issue of leaving their fobs beside their front doors and the need to protect them. We need to spread this message further. Please tell anyone you know who owns a new Land / Range Rover / Jaguar / other valuable performance car, about fob copying or signal relaying.
Send them the link to the Which YouTube Clip !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cua7BFX-QkThese cars are not being stolen by opportunist thieves, though they may act as spotters and collectors, for organised crime groups. These cars selected, targeted and stolen to order. The spotters will go around looking for particular makes, models and colours. They supply lists to organised crime, who will then sell and organise the theft of the cars to order.
It has to be well organised in advance, as all these cars have GPS tracker systems installed - rather than the older style wired trackers, installed and hidden in the engines, during manufacture. It is virtually impossible to ‘de-activate’ the GPS software, without causing other software issues.
Organised crime, has found a solution to this problem. Drive the car into a location, where the GPS signal is blocked. This could be a large artic lorry parked up nearby, a metal container on a nearby industrial estate, or a warehouse type building, adapted with anti-signal penetrating lining.
We can track these cars until they simply disappear, using the manufacturers GPS and ANPR. What the car manufacturers can do, is to provide the owners with a map, detailing the route taken by the car, minute by minute, to the exact spot, where the car apparently disappeared / GPS disabled. If you do have your car stolen, make immediate contact with the supplier and ask for this printout. It will help us enormously.
In the meantime – if you have one of these targeted cars – please take extra precautions to keep the fob secure and I would suggest – in your fridge. I used to suggest in your Microwave, which contains a brilliant Faraday Cage, to prevent microwaves escaping – but – someone forgot they were there and heated their dinner – blowing up the microwave, their dinner – and the keys !!!
I have received this from Steve:
Hi Jeff
Firstly congratulations on the excellent service you provide in keeping us all abreast of the latest crime information and your tips to help us from becoming victims.
It's very distressing to hear of the continuing theft of high end vehicles fitted with keyless locking systems.
I also have the same system fitted to my car, but it is not in the "most desirable" category and so far, I have been lucky.
However in my experience even using a recommended Faraday cage holder for my keys the car can still unlock when the keys are in close proximity to the car...i.e. I'm not sure they are 100% reliable.
As a precaution, I always use a good old fashioned Krook Lock. Appreciate they are not impregnable, but they do add a further layer of security and would help delay any would be thief from stealing my pride and joy.
They are inexpensive, easy to use and provide a very visible deterrent.
Best wishes
Steve
Thanks Steve. Good advice. We may be going back to those days of the large yellow deterrents very visible in cars.
NEXT: We have been contacted by Lauren Farrington from The Art Loss Register’, the company which records valuable items and tracks them, if stolen.
Hi Jeff,
I hope this email finds you well.
I am writing to let you know we have identified a clock being sold in a UK auction, taking place on 22 September, which is a possible match, to one reported stolen by Thames Valley Police, back in 1991.
This is an old theft. The item was stolen on 12 November 1991 Crime Ref. FG/36866/91.
I appreciate you may have limited records from this time, but are you able to tell us if this item was ever recovered ?
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Lauren
Unfortunately our records do not go back that far and we have changed our recording software several times since then – but it does show the Art Loss register does work !!!
Did anyone have a valuable clock stolen in 1991 – with that Crime reference number ? If we cannot track from our records – someone out there may have the records to identify it !!
CRIME
I have attached reference numbers to each crime report. If you live in the vicinity of any of the crimes mentioned and have CCTV or a video doorbell, can you please check the footage. If you have any that might be of interest to the police, can you please make contact with us, quoting reference number given.
Alternatively you can call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or email -
www.crimestoppers-uk.orgMAIDENHEAD CENTRAL:
maidenheadcentralgeographical@thamesvalley.police.uk15/9 Wednesday 7.45 a.m. – 7.05 p.m. Grenfell Road. Bicycle seat and seat post removed. The cycle seat damaged with considerable force. The seat and seat post found discarded and damaged elsewhere, within cycle parking area. Ref. No: 43210418569
RIVERSIDE & BELMONT:
NO CRIME TO REPORT.
MAIDENHEAD WEST
maidenheadwestgeographical@thamesvalley.police.ukBISHAM, COOKHAM, HURLEY, THE WALTHAMS, LITTLEWICK GREEN & KNOWL HILL:
16/9 Thursday 10.15 p.m. Construction Site, Viners Mire Lane, Waltham St. Lawrence. Attempted burglary. A lock has been forced on a porta cabin door and the lock barrel smashed. The aggrieved reported this as a crime in progress as they saw torchlight. The police attended immediately and carried out an area search, but no-one was located. No entry gained as the offenders were disturbed – and nothing stolen. Ref. No: 43210418584
15/9 Wednesday 11.30 p.m. Terry’s lane, Cookham. A neighbour reported a back gate and window on and lights on in a property knowing the owners to be away. No further details at this time. Ref. No: 43210416852
PINKNEYS GREEN & FURZE PLATT:
15/9 Wednesday 11.35 p.m. Woodlands Park Avenue. The owner returned to find a glass panel in their front door had been smashed. No entry gained and nothing stolen. Ref. No: 43210416866
16/9 Thursday 6 a.m. / 1.30 p.m. Beverley Gardens. Theft of 10 gym weights. The weights were on a table next to the garage and would not be visible from the road side. Ref. No: 43210417802
1/8 – 16/9 Blenheim Road. Car parked in the road since 01/08/21 when the owner moved house. The owner returned to collect the car, but it was gone. They called RBWM to see if it had been towed by them and they have no record of towing it. The owner still has the keys. A red Audi A3, index YF ** PVN. Ref. No: 43210418341
MAIDENHEAD SOUTH
maidenheadsouthgeographical@thamesvalley.police.ukBOYN HILL, COX GREEN & WOODLANDS PARK
16/9 Thursday 1 p.m. / 5 p.m. Alpine Close. Burglary. UNKNOWN MEANS OF ENTRY – possibly a spare key. Property searched and post opened. Nothing appears to have been stolen. Ref. No: 43210418328
OLDFIELD, BRAY & HOLYPORT:
16/9 Thursday 1 p.m. Open Field, Bray. Horse put in a filed overnight without asking for permission, missing the next morning. Ref. No: 43210417712
