Mid Sussex security and crime prevention news for the community

The development of local neighbourhood panels in the Mid Sussex area provides some exciting opportunities.  Neighbourhood panels are intended to help improve communication with the public, deliver a safer area to live and work in and tackle the issues that matter to you.

The aim of each panel is to identify issues which concern local residents and businesses in the neighbourhood.  Using police supplied incident and crime data, plus your local information, the panel can then highlight up to three priorities to concentrate on.  This will come from local knowledge (eg. cars racing around an estate and causing noise) as well as incident and crime data from the Police.

The neighbourhood panel's roll will be to discuss and decide how best to resolve the issues identified.

We are currently looking for 12-15 people who live or work within the Hassocks, Keymer and Clayton area to be part of the panel.

The date for the first meeting has been set for 13th August 2009 at Council Chambers, Parish Centre, Hassocks at 7.30 pm.

Follow-on meetings about every ten weeks will give an opportunity to provide feedback and updates on progress and review the priorities.

Anyone interested in joining the neighbourhood panel in Hassocks is requested to PCSO Emma Collett with your contact details or call on 0845 60 70 999 ext 27411.

Here is the latest message to the community (2nd June) from Chris Ball, Chief Inspector for Mid Sussex District.  It is intended to keep the local community informed and updated about key issues and developments in the area and can be downloaded opposite >>>
It is also available on our RSS feed and blog.

Download Community Message 50 (25KB)
Downloading and Printing info here.
Previous message No 49 (April, 22KB)

This document has been reformatted by this website from Sussex Police original into a PDF document suitable for downloading.

Watch Out is the Mid Sussex Neighbourhood Watch newsletter and is distributed locally by the PCSOs and Neighbourhood Watch coordinators.  Designed to keep Mid Sussex residents informed of local crime issues, it contains a wealth of local information and crime prevention advice.

The spring edition has items on the new Neighbourhood Police Teams, crime prevention and bad habits, Mid Sussex Community Connections, phishing email scams, the ICE campaign and reports from the NPTs.

Click to view Watch Out.

Dates for forthcoming Police Surgeries >>>

All are held at the Hassocks Parish Council Offices in Adastra Park. Please come along if you have any problems or questions that the police may be able to help with.
Note: PCSO Joanne Wood in attendance until Emma Collett's return to full duties.

July: Tuesday 21st, 10.30 - 11.30 am
August: Tuesday 11th, 10.30 - 11.30 am
September: Thursday 17th, 11 am - 12.00 pm
October: Thursday 22nd, 11 am - 12.00 pm
November: Thursday 19th, 11 am - 12.00 pm
December: Tuesday 15th, 10.30 - 11.30 am

Sussex Police officers are trialling new mobile devices that are hoped to speed up their response and reporting of incidents.  The computers are able to display images of missing or wanted people, take photos at a crime scene, access databases such as the Police National Computer and complete forms online.

£456,000 has been provided to fund the trial, with £30 million being funded to 25 police forces by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) in phase two of the programme which is intended to cut red tape.

Assistant Chief Constable Robin Merrett said: "Sussex Police is pleased to receive funding from NPIA to enable frontline officers to benefit from handheld technology.  This will make them more visible in the community, fighting crime and providing reassurance.  We will ensure that officers from a broad section of the force will receive the computers so that everyone benefits."

10,000 of the devices, funded by the Government, were delivered last year in phase one of the programme.  There are now more than 13,000 handheld computers in use by frontline officers, the investment in mobile technology is expected to make crime fighting more effective and efficient.

Following the recent spate of cat attacks in Mid Sussex, the action group called Linking Animal and Human Abuse (LAHA) has been re-launched.

Research in America found that the perpetrators of animal attacks were often abuse victims themselves, or progress to abuse humans.  LAHA's David Hammond hopes he can help Sussex Police stop the killings and encourage reward for information.  He said: "I believe we all have a moral duty to help the police who are already overstretched.  The person who is doing this may well need help."

David asks those who would like to support the group and people who have suffered cat attacks to contact him at the LAHA via Sussex Police on 0845 60 70 999.

Mid Sussex Neighbourhood Watch have produced a handbook containing a wealth of useful information.

The 50 page publication contains advice and tips on keeping the criminal at bay; personal, property and vehicle security, fire safety, local contacts listings, plus much more.

The booklet has been sponsored by many local agencies including WSCC, Mid Sussex and Haywards Heath councils, the Fire & Rescue service, Sussex Police, Sussex Neighbourhood Watch Federation and the Scarman Trust.

The printed booklet can be obtained from Mid Sussex police stations or downloaded from the links opposite in either PDF or ZIP format.

The handbook is identical within both files types >>>

Download members handbook (PDF) (3.86MB)
 Download members handbook (ZIP file) (3.47MB)
Downloading and Printing info here.