St. Leonard's Crime Prevention Advice

Theft From Motor Vehicle.

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• Park in well lit, high footfall areas. Ideally with CCTV.

• It may sound obvious, but, LOCK YOUR CAR! Most of our theft from motor vehicle crimes seem to be from vehicles that were unlocked. It takes one or two seconds to ensure your vehicle is locked, it is ALWAYS worth doing.

• Consider home CCTV options.

• Do not park in very secluded areas behind houses/ alleyways.

• NEVER leave valuables on display, even if only for a few minutes.

• Remove all traces of valuables from the vehicle, eg remove Sat Nav/ Phone cradles from the windscreen or dashboard.

• Keep the interior of your vehicle tidy to show no items are hidden in the car. Thieves will often risk breaking in to see if there is anything worth stealing under clothing or paperwork.

• Consider leaving your glove-box open to show potential thieves no valuables are inside.

• Consider having windows tinted so thieves have to get very close to look inside your vehicle. This makes their intentions clear to any potential witnesses/ CCTV.

• Keep windows etc clean... very clean! If someone ever touches your windows to look inside, it is then obvious and can help us to identify who it was.

Theft Of Motor Vehicle

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• Do not leave your vehicle unlocked, even if it is on your driveway. That may be the only chance a thief needs to steal it.

• Consider CCTV for your driveway to deter any would be car thieves.

• Keep your keys away from windows or doors. Two vehicles that we know of over the last few months were taken by suspects using a fishing device through the letterbox to take the keys off a table by the front door. Hide your spare key in a non obvious place.

• If your vehicle has keyless entry/ keyless start, ensure your key (and the spare) are kept in a faraday bag. These can be purchased inexpensively from the likes of Amazon etc. These types of keys send a radio signal to the car telling it the key is nearby or inside and allow the doors to be unlocked and the engine to start in some cases. All the thief needs is a signal booster to fool the car into thinking the key is in close proximity. A faraday bag blocks radio signals which means cars cannot receive the signal from the key.

• Chain your moped/ motorbike to an immovable sturdy object i.e a lamppost, or use a ground anchor if on a driveway.

• Cover any moped/ motorbike with a stick sturdy cover. Research shows that covering your bike/ moped can reduce risk of theft by up to 60%

Burglary (Residential)

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• Lock your doors and windows... again it sounds obvious, but numerous burglaries are down to windows and doors being open.

• If you aren’t at home, try and give the appearance that you are. There are numerous items available to assist with this, smart light bulbs, television simulators (LED device that shines lights against a wall to give the appearance that the TV is on), leave your radio on etc.

• Do not advertise what is in your house. If your front windows etc  are close to the pavement, consider closing curtains or blinds when not at home.

• Consider smart doorbells, these offer a fantastic way of knowing who is at your front door before opening it, and can usually record who is ringing the doorbell. Most burglars will want to make sure no one is home before breaking in, so will often ring the doorbell first, and they won’t want their faces captured on camera, so this can easily put a burglar off your house.

• If leaving the house, vary your routine as much as possible i.e if you go for a run at 1800 every day, try and go at different times, so your routine is not easily observed or predicted.

Burglary (Non Residential)

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• Keep sheds and other outbuildings locked and secure.

• Ideally add motion activated lighting to your shed/ garage in order to show when someone is near.

• Consider a door alarm for a shed/ garage, these can be purchased inexpensively from DIY shops etc.

• Consider chaining items together in the shed to prevent an easy getaway for thieves. For example chaining your lawnmower, bicycle and golf clubs together means any would be burglar will have to either, try and take it all together, or cut the chain, causing a lot of noise.

• Keep any side access gates etc locked securely; ideally do not place the lock so that it can be reached by leaning over the gate.

Robberies / Thefts

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• Keep your personal belongings with you at all times. For example, when in a coffee shop, don’t leave your laptop/ phone etc on the table when going to get a refill.

• Do not advertise your high value items. These are the items criminals will look for and will target. Treat your personal property like cash, you wouldn’t walk around with £1000 in cash in your hand, so don’t carry your phone like that!

• Keep an eye on your possessions at all times, don’t leave phones/ wallets on the table in restaurants, it takes seconds for someone to distract you and take them.

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Additional Crime Prevention Advice for Residents

(Provided by our local Police team)

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CCTV.

There is a lot of misinformation about CCTV that circulates, essentially if it is something that can be seen from a window, and it is a public place, it can be filmed by private CCTV cameras (i.e. you can install cameras anywhere in your own home. Again, some CCTV cameras are fairly cheap and can be a great help to police if you are burgled.

Video Doorbells.

These are very good at deterring would be burglars from even trying to enter your home. Most burglars will knock on your door in order to confirm that no one is at home before trying to break in. A video  doorbell will mean they are filmed doing this, and so a large number of the most opportunistic burglars will just not bother and move on to an easier target.