Mid Sussex security and crime prevention news for the community

Here is the latest message to the community (15th December) from Edward De La Rue, 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 viewed or downloaded opposite >>>
It is also available on our RSS feed and blog.

Download Community Message 53 (26KB)
Downloading and Printing info here.
Previous message No 54 (October, 30KB)

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 winter edition has an item on the Lowland Dogs Search Team, a message from CI Edward De-La-Rue, features on fire and personal safety, Community Crime Fighters events and reports from each of the three Neighbourhood Police Team areas.

Click to view Watch Out.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of the Neighbourhood Panel, they are being developed in the Mid Sussex area to assist the Neighbourhood Policing teams with setting priorities for us to work on.

August saw the first meeting of the new Hassocks, Keymer and Clayton Neighbourhood Panel and follow-on meeting have been held in October and December.

The meetings are informally chaired by myself, PCSO Emma Collett with attendance by main coordinator Bruce Burgess.

At the December meeting we set the following priorities:

Issue:  Addressing parking/anti-social driving issues in Semley / Stonepound Road and Stamford Avenue.
Action:  Letter to WSDC regarding a Traffic Regulation Order and letter to be taken to all households for signing.  Ongoing situation monitoring plus patrols on guide hut days and rush hour.

Issue:  Anti-Social Driving.
Action:  Continue to promote the reinstatement of Speedwatch.  Contact previous members of Speedwatch via letter and visits.

We have set various actions for ourselves relating to these and previous topics and you will see us in the village carrying these out.  Please visit my blog to look at the priorities in more detail.

As one of the priorities is to highlight the profile of the panel, we are looking for more volunteers to join us.  We will welcome all new members of all ages but are keen to see the Hassocks Traders represented and those attending the village schools (teachers/parents or children) and youth organisations.  In December we welcomed three new panel members.

Our next meeting is on 18th Feb 2010 at 7.30pm at the Council Chambers, Parish Centre in Adastra Park.  Future meeting dates will be advised here.

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

If you are interested in joining us, please PCSO Emma Collett with your contact details or call on 0845 60 70 999 ext 27411.

The Community Crime Fighters programme aims to develop stronger links between crime-fighting agencies and the communities they serve.  They're members of the public who are already actively involved in their communities and want to do or know more.

If you work alongside your local police or council, eg. as a  Neighbourhood Watch coordinator, you may like to attend a Community Crime Fighters training event.  It's free to attend and lunch and refreshments are provided plus help is available with travel costs if needed.  Young people over sixteen and not in full time education are welcome to attend.

The programme has now ended for 2009.  Recent events took place at the Oval Cricket Ground in London on 25th November and in Brighton on 13th October.  We'll post details of future events here.  Prior booking is required, which can be done online on the communitycrimefighters website (quote booking reference CCF02).  Or call the registration desk: 0800 197 2965.

Topics covered include: how you might get more involved with your local services to reduce crime and the fear of crime in your community, an understanding of the services and information you can and should receive from the police and other agencies, and ways you can more effectively hold your local crime fighting services to account.

Events are intended for volunteers and community activists and not council reps, housing officers or police.  Also please don't book if you've already attended a one-day Crime Fighters event.

The Crime Fighter Toolkit can be downloaded below:

Community Crime Fighter Toolkit (225KB)
Downloading and Printing info here.

Dates for forthcoming Police Surgeries >>>

All are held at the Hassocks Parish Council Offices in Adastra Park (unless marked SDN).  Please come along if you have any problems or questions that the police may be able to help with.

Mark Hillyard, Manager of South Downs Nurseries, has kindly offered the use of the café for my surgery and will be offering free tea and coffee to those who wish to meet with me.  I shall see how well these dates are received first and notify onward dates nearer the time.

February - Tuesday 16th, 11-11.30am
February - Sunday 21st, 1pm-2pm (SDN)
March - Thursday 18th, 11-11.30am
March - Sunday 28th, 1pm-2pm (SDN)

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.

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.