Hello all, Mark Edwards here again from your local Neighbourhood Policing Team.
As we suffer from heavy rain, cold icy mornings, and strong winds I have to report that it’s not just the bad weather that’s hit Newton Aycliffe hard of late. At this time we have seen a rise in the number of burglaries reported to Police.
Between 8pm on Thursday 3rd and 7.30 am on Friday 4th March 2016 an unknown suspect has entered a property on Lockyer Close via an unlocked rear door. Once inside a number of items have been stolen by the person responsible who has then exited the house after unlocking the front door and making his escape. Amongst items stolen were a baby changing bag containing various essentials, a grey handbag, a wine shaped money box and contents, and a beige and black purse. The baby changing bag was subsequently found by a member of the public after it had been discarded in the nearby underpass.
Between 11.30 pm on Wednesday 2nd March and 7.30 am on Thursday 3rd March 2016 two garages were entered at neighbouring addresses in Ashfield. At one location the suspect has pulled up the metal shutter door which was insecure and a 21” black flat screen television was stolen, in the other garage a box of DVD’s were taken.
A garage was also entered by force at a home on Hamsterley Road. The roller shutter door was forcibly opened and a red child’s electric quad bike valued at £500 was stolen. This crime took place sometime between Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd March 2016.
The Neighbourhood Policing Team at Newton Aycliffe are progressing a number of active enquiries at this time – including visiting known locations where CCTV exists and trawling through extensive footage, conducting house to house enquiries, liaising with our Crime Scene Investigators regarding forensic opportunities, and tapping into a variety of other information sources. As usual I make the appeal to any reader/local resident who may have information (no matter how irrelevant they may deem it to be) to contact either myself or my team either via 101 or through our various social media forums.
You may have picked up on a key theme running through some of the crimes referenced above, namely that on a large percentage of them the suspects entered the premises through unlocked doors. We repeatedly try to educate homeowners as to the importance of keeping doors and windows locked secure at all times and – yeas, I get it, we shouldn’t have to check that our doors/windows are locked constantly – especially when we are at home, unfortunately modern society isn’t the same as it was back in the day. Many criminals are cowards and act on opportunity (not all granted) so every little thing that you can do to make their felonious activities all the more difficult well, that’s gotta be worth something, right?
It’s not all doom and gloom however – all UK Police Forces are regularly subject to inspection and assessment by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC) which look closely at each Force individually and assess their effectiveness at keeping people safe and reducing crime. You may have seen it publicised elsewhere but here it is again – Durham Constabulary is the only one to receive an overall grade of ‘outstanding’. The reason why – we believe, is down to a little thing we like to call the #DurhamDifference which consists of simple principles that underpin all we do. That might not reassure you if you’ve been a victim of crime similar to those described above but I can assure you that in County Durham (and more importantly to yourselves – Newton Aycliffe!) you have a group of people working together who do care and will put the graft in to trying to solve those offences for you.
Our POP IN PACT forums continue in the Town Centre, Woodham and Greenfield areas. Details of all upcoming events will be advertised accordingly.
Over the coming months you will hear more and more about a project coming to the town that’s been successfully rolled out across the rest of the County Durham and Darlington area – an initiative named the ‘Mini-Police’, which will involve a number of schools in the area. In short, this project engages with children aged 9-11yrs, in Years 5 & 6 in a fun and interactive way, with the emphasis being that the children have fun whilst learning about the police. More details will follow as we move closer to the launch date in July.
So, in closing, take care, be safe, lock up, and be good.
Mark J Edwards
Newton Aycliffe Neighbourhood T/Inspector