Reporting crime in Hillingdon Borough

The Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch team speaks to many victims of crime on a weekly basis, and it is becoming very clear that a significant number of victims are still not reporting crimes to the police.

Why does this matter?

The police review crimes on each Ward across Hillingdon on a daily basis to look for trends.  Emerging trends direct the teams as to where to focus and prioritise their policing efforts to get the best outcomes.  A sequence of similar events can be linked, leading to Borough-wide or in some cases nationally-organised trends, and this in turn can lead to specialist resource being drawn onto the Borough to address that trend.  That's why it is so important to report all crime.

Are there any examples?

If a victim doesn't report e.g. someone trying their car door handle at night but stealing nothing (motor vehicle interference), then from a police perspective there is no crime in that road, and areas with reported crime will gain priority for patrols and other crime reduction strategies.  An example of why the data matters in the scenario given is that CCTV showing their clothing may be vital in linking the crime to other events nearby on the same night, and a one-off event can then turn into a whole sequence of reported events by a criminal team which is active regularly along a particular route.

I reported it, but my case was closed within 24hrs…

Your specific crime may, in isolation, have no specific leads, for example no CCTV that can identify a vehicle or an individual perpetrator.  In that case your case may well be closed quickly, but your case remains on the system (and can be re-opened), and similar events nearby - if they are reported - may begin to show direction of travel of a team for example, which can then lead to further sightings of the same individuals getting into their own vehicle later on.  Your report matters because it is potentially part of a much bigger picture.

So, how do I report crime quickly and easily?

Aside from emergency cases where you should call 999 directly, the best way to report crime is online, there is a police.uk app available to do this on your mobile, and full details are on the home page of our website at:  https://www.hillingdonnhw.co.uk/   Online submissions are triaged in real time alongside 101 calls, so an online submission is definitely not the “slow lane”, and allows you to capture and submit all of the facts required by the police in a compact and efficient way.

In summary…

Going forwards, please report all crime - your local policing teams depend on it in order to be effective.  Thank you for your continued support of the police and Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch on our Borough.