To all Baldock Herts Connected Members

I hope this message finds you well.

As we start a new year, I wanted to provide you all with a regular newsletter to explain projects that your local Neighbourhood Team are engaging in. I am the ward Police Officer for Baldock and I work alongside our wonderful Police Community Support Officer, Shelley Gordon. Together, we work to problem solve issues in the community of Baldock, with a priority of reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and keeping our community safe.

I would like to take the opportunity to highlight some of this community work. Here is an overview of what we are currently prioritising, with more details below:

St Mary’s Church

There have been a series of crimes and incidents which have been committed in the ground of St Mary’s Church. These offences have had an impact on the feelings of safety for those who use the church and surrounding areas. I have been working closely with Reverend Maddox and members of her team to identify ways we could improve this area.

Late last year, I arranged for our Crime Prevention Officer – Darren Cowell – to attend for a site assessment, alongside members of the North Herts Council. The outcome of this was a report which raised issues such as a lack of lighting, overhanging trees and bushes that have created block sight lines and a lack of CCTV. This report has been fed into the architects’ design for the redevelopment of the Community Centre. 

I assisted with an unrelated arrest earlier this year, in Barkway, of an 18-year-old male. The team and I discovered 296 street lights, and I am happy to report that two of the lights found were missing from St Mary’s Church. 
One is a historic stained glass Jubilee light, which is of significance to the town (this can be seen in the third photo of the BBC News article: Hundreds of lights recovered in Hertfordshire theft investigation - BBC News). This also received coverage on BBC Look East and ITV News. 
Enquiries are progressing evidentially and this week I had the pleasure of reuniting the Reverend with these lost lights. Back in her possession, hopefully they will be reinstalled in due course and this should help to improve the lighting situation in the Church grounds. Should you have any missing street lights, please contact Herts Police on 101 and state for the attention of PC WOOLLARD.

Vehicle Crime

At the start of the year, there was a spate of incidents over one weekend where cars and vans were targeted in Baldock. This was two overnight sets of crimes, which from investigation do not appear to be linked. One the first night, multiple vehicles were targeted on driveways and the suspect was trying door handles. I am happy to report that, due to all the vehicles being locked, nothing was taken.

On the second night – two vans were targeted with their panels broken and tools taken from only one van. Having investigated all of these, I believe them to be examples of travelling organised crime members operating in our community. They will enter multiple areas in one night, commit crime and move on. I am grateful for all those who came forward with information. Unfortunately, I was not able to identify those involved.

To proactively protect our community, units (both marked and covert) were deployed to the area and additional resources were given to conduct these patrols throughout the night. As well as these patrols, I conducted multiple door knocks in the area to give crime prevention advice and reassurance to local residents.

Please consider reviewing your vehicle security in view of these incidents. Ensuring vehicles are locked and valuables removed; parked in well-lit areas where they can be seen easily (avoiding hedges/walls/parked long distances away from any properties); consider CCTV and motion-activated lighting for the parking area; as well as dash cams which can be activated through motion.

One of the vehicles targeted had its number plates taken – which will then commonly be used on the incorrect vehicle to commit further offences. A simple solution to this would be fitting some anti-theft screws. These can be purchased for a small fee.

CCTV Coverage

I have conducted a review of CCTV after seeing a trend of investigations and incidents being closed with no visual evidence being identified. CCTV and footage can be the difference between a suspect being identified in the first place. Then in court, this can be the difference between someone being charged to court and found guilty.

In Baldock, there is a lack of coverage in particular areas of the town. I have spoken with the North Herts Anti-Social Behaviour Officer and there is a small budget available to improve CCTV coverage. I have submitted 8 locations which I believe would benefit from CCTV. These have been identified from speaking to members of the community on foot patrol - as well as data analysis of incidents known to Police. Specifically two of which are linked to St Mary’s Church.

Summary

I hope that you have found the first edition of this newsletter helpful, if so please do press the thumbs up of apprehension below and I am always happy to receive and answer questions and queries if you wish to respond.

Thank you for your time in reading to this point and I hope to speak to many of you in person whilst I am out and about.

PC 1706 Durham