Old Coulsdon Residents' Association

Latest Crime Messages Page 2 of 2

To View the latest local Crime Reports Click Here

Here are the more crime messages for the Kenley Police Sector:

WARNING FROM THE CRIME PREVENTION OFFICERS

The latest reports of Bogus Callers include:

·        A female calling on an elderly person claiming to deliver flowers from the local community centre.  A man then attempts to enter unseen and search the house.

·        Two men  - one around 60 years, one around 16 years – claiming to have lost a guinea pig/hamster – request to enter house to search for lost pet.

·        Teenage male and female looking for a lost ball - request to go through house to recover item.

There have been several incidents of Bogus Callers recently - mostly using the Water Board excuse to gain entry but two incidents this week impersonating a Police Officer.  In both cases a white male described as 6’00” tall of slim build and with short hair called on elderly female victims claiming to be a CID Officer.  In one case the clothing was described as wearing a dark jacket with a zip up collar, light denim jeans and with a dark baseball cap. 

In Waddington Avenue some weeks ago, two white males, one approximately aged 20 years 5’09” (no description as given of the other) called on a pensioner victim claiming to be from the Water Board. Later cash was found to have been stolen.

Another Water Board bogus caller in Coulsdon where a white male, approx aged 19 years, 5’08”, and wearing a black pullover took cash. Also in Coulsdon, two white males, one approx 35 years 5’08” tall, short ginger hair and moustache with Irish accent.  The other approx 20 years old 5’09” with collar length brown hair, called at two houses and claimed to be from the Water Board to fix a leak.  No ID was shown and cash was taken. The Water Board would never do this without prior warning, in writing. Even if someone calls saying it's an emergency CALL THE WATER BOARD TO CHECK FIRST AND DON'T LET THEM IN WHILST YOU ARE DOING THIS!!! THEIR NUMBER IS IN THE PHONE BOOK AND ON THE TOP OF YOUR BILL.

LATEST EMAIL SCAMS

There is an email circulating headed ‘Pin Number Reversal’ which claims that if you are robbed and forced to enter your pin number into an ATM you can reverse your pin number and the Police will immediately attend.  No such luck! This is a hoax.

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For those of you on broadband a useful utility called CallingID can be downloaded from www.callingid.com  this verifies that a site is safe for you to send personal data and protects against those false links on phishing email supposedly from banks, EBay etc. CallingID is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers and verifies the identity of the site you have connected to.

SMARTWATER

Smartwater has been likened to a liquid DNA fingerprint. Using a mock police line up the liquid Smartwater can be clearly seen on the potential suspect. Smartwater links the suspect to the scene of the crime.

The Smartwater solution can be painted onto household items and leaves a “forensic fingerprint “encoded with the owner's details, which is virtually impossible to remove. The substance can also be installed to use as a spray within the home or commercial premises against burglars, as it sticks to hair, skin and clothes. SMARTWATER cannot be seen by the naked eye but will show up under specialist ultra violet lights.

Police officers out on patrol now carry personal issue UV lights with them to search for Smartwater on both suspects and property. Larger UV lights are also in use and are being used on pre planned Operations. At both custody suites at South Norwood and Croydon police stations all prisoners and property seized will automatically be routinely scanned for traces of SMARTWATER.

To purchase Smartwater visit www.met.police.uk/croydon or contact the crime prevention team 0208 649 1414. 

NATIONAL PROPERTY REGISTER

Immobilise have recently launched a new version of the Immobilise National Property Register. The new site has been completely redesigned providing its millions of users with a greatly enhanced experience and many additional benefits.

For those of you that have not yet visited the new site we would like to tell you about a few things that we hope are of interest.

What is Immobilise?

Immobilise is the National Property Register promoted by Police forces throughout the UK, and is the largest service of its type in the world with over 18 million UK subscribers.

It is a free service that allows the public to record the ownership of their property by make, model, serial numbers and photos and then use their account to inform the UK Police, insurers and the second-hand trade of loss or theft of any registered item.

Keep your property and contact details up-to-date

In event of the loss or theft, property details can easily be retrieved for purposes such as insurance claims and theft reports.  You can also report stolen or lost property directly from your Immobilise account.

In addition all the details you provide show up on any Police search of the item's serial or other identifiable number, helping to ensure that recovered property finds its way back to you.

You can now register almost anything on the Immobilise website so we encourage you to add any belongings that you feel are of importance.  As well as serial numbers, the system will also store photos and textual descriptions so please update your account.

To learn more about the service please visit Immobilise or homeoffice.gov.uk and search for "Immobilise". 

FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH MEMBERS ONLY  October 2008

Now available from the N/W Office at Kenley:

UV Marker pens and marked property stickers, also No Junk Mail stickers.

Please contact Sarah Gardner on 020 8649 0318 or by email Sarah.gardner@met.police.uk if you would like some of them.