Burglaries/Vehicle Thefts

Hello all

“Here he goes again!” I can hear some of you saying!  “PC doom and gloom!”

All joking aside it's part of my job to bring certain crimes to your attention, ‘forewarned is forearmed’ as the saying goes.

Unfortunately we've had some burglaries in the Folkestone and Ashford areas recently and although not specifically on The Marsh I just wanted to reiterate security advice that I've given before.

CCTV-keep the cameras charged, lenses clean, subscriptions up to date or if you have a memory card in the cameras make sure you format them from time to time to keep the memory clear and just have a general practice on how to use the CCTV system just in case you need to review any footage.

LIGHTS-if you have outside security lights make sure they're covering the most vulnerable areas where a burglar or vehicle thief might approach your property and it's a good idea to have your CCTV and lights working in conjunction with each other so that the area where the camera is covering is lit up if the camera detects movement.

Ensure that all exterior doors and windows are closed and locked especially when you go to bed or go out leaving the property empty, consider leaving internal lights on and close curtains/blinds if its dark outside so it looks like someone is in.

If you have an alarm please utilise it.

If you have a driveway with gates, please close and lock them when you know that you're not going out again.

Ensure that your vehicles are locked and the alarm is on, seriously consider a steering wheel lock or a similar visible physical device to help secure your vehicle as this might be the difference whereby the criminal might leave your vehicle alone or if they don't, it will slow them down and they'll have to make a racket to dismantle the lock giving you more time to ring us, them on camera for longer and us more time to hopefully catch them!

If you have a relatively new vehicle double check whether you've got a factory fitted tracker and if you have you'll need to check with the manufacturer that it's active.

Keyless vehicle?? If yes then please get a Faraday pouch to keep the vehicle key in as this will block the signal from the key to the vehicle's computer because sometimes the undesirables arrive with a gadget to boost that signal from the key in your home to the vehicle on your drive or in the road but a pouch should stop them being able to succeed. 

Phrase of the day ‘TARGET HARDENING’ that's what the above is, make it as difficult as possible for the light fingered amongst us to take what's not theirs!

Thank you

Steve.

13183@kent.police.uk