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Link to  Neighbourhood Watch Scotland Newsletter (June 2018)
On Sunday 22nd July we will host a motorcycle saftey day at Lockerbie Police Office. Staff from IAM Road smart, D&G Blood bikes, Police Scotland motorcycles will all be at the event aimed at improving the safety of motorcycle riders.
Holiday – Security Advice
Secure your home whilst you're on holiday
Follow our advice below to help keep your home safe while you are on holiday
- Fit good quality kite marked British Standard locks or bolts to all outside doors. Lock all windows and doors and remove the keys to a safe place when you leave the house.
- If you have an intruder alarm, make sure it’s set. If you don’t have one consider having an approved alarm system installed. Ensure keyholders are updated and contactable.
- Make use of timer plugs with lamps and radios to make your home seem occupied. Arrange for a relative, trusted friend or neighbour to check your home, collect post, open and close curtains.
- Don’t leave valuable items such as laptops and jewellery in view of windows. Lock valuable items in a ground anchored safe or you could consider leaving important documents and valuable items with other family members whilst away.
- Make sure all access points are secured such as gates and activate any external security lighting that you may have.
- Ensure gardening equipment, tools and ladders are put away and securely stored. Don’t leave them lying around in your garden as they could aid offenders.
- Ensure your garden is well maintained, grass cut etc. prior to going on holiday and during holiday if away for a longer period.
- Ensure that sheds and outbuildings are locked and secured. Use good quality locks on garages and sheds (ensure screws on latches and hinges cannot be undone easily from the outside) and where possible ensure that they are alarmed
- Mark your valuables such as jewellery and electronic equipment including your gardening equipment, tools and other valuables stored in sheds and garages with your postcode. Visibly marking items with your postcode offers more of a deterrent, and ensure that you use window stickers to show items are marked and identifiable.
- Photograph and keep detailed records of expensive items.
- Cancel any regular deliveries and only tell people who need to know you’re going away.
- Don’t post or comment on social media about going or being on holiday. You wouldn’t display a sign in your window advertising that you’re going on holiday, so don’t advertise it online.
- Make sure that you have up-to-date contents and buildings insurance.
- Don’t have your home address showing on your luggage for the outward journey. Put this only on the inside of your cases.
- Consider joining or starting a Neighbourhood Watch / Rural Watch – further information at www.neighbourhoodwatchscotland.co.uk
- Cars can be a target. Secure cars in a locked garage or if in driveway consider additional visible steering lock (Thatcham tested / approved ) If you have a keyless car, secure keys as far away as possible from accessible doors/ windows and keep in a signal blocking wallet
27.06.18
Police Scotland – Livestock Worrying Campaign
The following video is now available for viewing and sharing with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. It contains important safety advice for all dog owners and outlines the distress caused to sheep and consequences of allowing uncontrolled dogs near sheep/ livestock.
Remember:
- Be a responsible dog owner
- Keep your dog under control and on a lead if walking in the countryside, rural locations or near the edge of town and near sheep or livestock
- Be aware of the distress and serious injury a dog can cause sheep. A dog’s natural instinct is to chase.
- Livestock worrying is a crime and will be dealt with by the Police. Farmers also have a legal right to shoot dogs engaged in livestock worrying.
- If you witness or have any information on a livestock / sheep worrying incident please call Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you prefer to remain anonymous.
Video is available on link below:
https://www.facebook.com/PoliceScotland/posts/1640509692698110
NWS Team
Resilience Advice – Ready Scotland
This week, the Scottish Government is running its annual campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of fostering resilience as individuals, families, communities and businesses.
Nobody likes to think about the worst case scenario. As the nights begin to draw in, planning for what you might do in the event of severe weather or a cyber-security breach might not be top of your agenda. But thinking ahead a little now, and knowing where to find support, can make a huge difference.
Resilience is not about strength, or about resisting problems altogether – it’s about bouncing back, about recovering well, and assisting others in doing so too. In order to do that, it pays to keep informed, take sensible precautions, and think about how you can help others in the community around you.
The best way to do that is to get ready in advance, and there is plenty of help and guidance available on ReadyScotland.org to get you started.
You can also follow along on social media this week by searching for the hashtag #readyscotland
Community and Home Resilience
Do you have an emergency plan? Use this simple tool to create and print your own https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandplan #readyscotland
Does your home have an emergency kit? Take a few minutes and check off the items here https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandkit #readyscotland
Interested in getting your community ready for emergencies? Check out the guide on https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandcommunityplan #readyscotland
Everyone can help in an emergency – fill out this family-friendly plan with your children https://tinyurl.com/readyscotlandfamilyworkbook #readyscotland
If it's cold outside, you need to be warm inside - check these tips for keeping safe and warm https://tinyurl.com/safe-warm #readyscotland
Unsure how to protect your pipes in cold weather? Scottish Water’s handy guide may help https://tinyurl.com/protectyourpipes #readyscotland
Why not take five minutes this week to make sure your home is ready for the unexpected? https://www.readyscotland.org/areyou-ready/ #readyscotland
07.11.17
Help us #BeatDoorstepCrime and report any bogus callers or rogue traders to Police or Trading Standards.
Bogus callers try to get into your home or obtain personal details by pretending to be someone they’re not, including council staff, charity collectors, meter readers and police officers. In reality, they are criminals trying to steal money and valuables.
Rogue traders usually cold-call, claiming to be workers offering to sell services, make repairs or carry out work on your house, garden or driveway. In reality they charge inflated prices for shoddy or unnecessary work.
We DO NOT recommend dealing with cold-callers for property maintenance and home repairs.
You can find out more information here -http://www.scotland.police.uk/…/doorstep-crime-and-bogus-ca…
Police Scotland Home security advice...
We're reminding householders not to let the improved weather blind them to the importance of home security...
- As you spend time outdoors in the warm weather, doors and windows are often left wide open, providing a ready invitation to passing opportunist thieves who could sneak in and out in a matter of seconds taking valuable property with them. Keep windows and doors locked.
- Don't keep any keys or valuables within arm’s reach of the front or back door - keep them out of sight.
- For visibility at night, consider sensor-operated lighting which is convenient and an effective deterrent.
- If your shed/garage has windows, consider fitting a curtain, or similar, to obscure the view of the shed contents.
- Mark all the electrical equipment with an ultraviolet marker pen or register at imobilise.comwww.immobilise.com
- If you have an alarm - make sure and use it. Also, consider an intruder alarm for your shed or outbuilding.
- Never leave your shed/garage unlocked. Are the locks secure?
20.05.15
TOP TIPS
• Use significantly different passwords for each service you have
• Change passwords every 90 days for all services
• Ensure your passwords are a minimum of 8 characters, using lower-case letters, uppercase letters, numbers and special characters in a scrambled sequence
• The password chosen must not include any usernames or easy to guess phrases e.g. “password”
• Having difficulty remembering lots of different passwords? Try a password manager
• Use multi-Factor authentication to give further security to your online accounts
www.ecrimescotland.org.uk
reproduced by kind permmission of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre
26.01.15
BICYCLE SECURITY
Police are urging bicycle owners to securely fasten their bikes after forty bike thefts in Dumfries since the start of the year.
Summer has arrived and chances are that you or a friend or family member will be out and about enjoying the various cycle paths and taking in the fabulous scenic routes Dumfries and Galloway offers.This however increases the desirability of bicycles to thieves. Recently there has been a spate of bicycles stolen in Dumfries, almost of which have been as a result of the bike being left unattended and insecure.
Crime Reduction Officer Derek Hughes from Community Safety said: “Some modern bicycles can be fairly expensive and thieves will take any opportunity to exploit that. We are reminding the public there can be a number of common sense measures that can reduce the chances of being a victim of crime.
- Do not leave your bicycle in isolated places.
- Always lock your bicycle when you leave it. Failure to do so will most likely invalidate any insurance cover.
- Where possible, lock your bicycle to something solid like a lamp post or railings.
- If your wheels are easily removed, remove the front wheel and lock it to the frame and back wheel.
- Take a photograph and a description of your bike.
- Do not leave your bike lying about!
“Even in the safest community, we would advise against leaving your bicycle outside your home or in your garden, unless it is a secured with a bicycle lock.
“Pedal cycles can be of high value, and are easily sold on or often dissembled for parts. If you wish to have your bicycle post-coded, please contact your local police station on 101.”
BE ALERT TO MACHINERY THEFTS
Police are urging you to secure your vehicles and other machinery this summer.
While Dumfries and Galloway is enjoying low crime rates officers are doing their best to make sure this continues and the national problem of vehicle crime does not hit this region. It is a rural area so it can be sometimes subject to thefts from farm or rural properties. Furthermore it is not immune from the more urban crimes such as domestic car crime.
From time to time a region can be targeted by teams of thieves from elsewhere in the UK. Such thieves often visit a property in advance, and if challenged give an apparently innocent reason for their presence.
To prevent this police officers in the region are stepping up patrols during the summer months. Police are also warning farmers and other members of the public to pay particular attention to their plant and machinery security. Farm or even residential vehicles can be high value and securing them should be considered to prevent any thefts from farms, building sites and industrial premises.
Identify your property by:
- Keeping a record of the serial number, chassis and model numbers of machines.
- Use metal engravers to mark tools and equipment with your postcode followed by the first two letters of your farm's name.
- Consider physical crime prevention measures for all machinery and vehicles.
- There are a number of products on the market which would deter persons from stealing such vehicles, ie Data tag, Quadloc, Smartwater, etc.
- Always keep tools and small pieces of machinery locked away. Do not leave them lying about.
From a police point of view it is disappointing when officers are called to thefts plant, machinery and other vehicles and quickly learn how easy it has been for the thieves.
Members of the community are urged to take the opportunity to contact us and ask for a visit from their local crime prevention officers for a free security survey. It may just save you hundreds or thousands of pounds and stop you becoming a victim of theft.
Inspector Alan Cook of Dumfries Division Community Policing Unit said: “We are lucky that Dumfries and Galloway has a relatively low crime rate compared to other areas, however the area has at times been a target for travelling criminals who come to the area and commit crime.
“We are advising members of the public not to be complacent and insure that they secure all items of plant, machinery or vehicles that they own or use. These are all very valuable commodities and should be treated as such. Crimes of this nature are on the increase throughout the country and we would urge people to take all appropriate steps to ensure their property is adequately secured.
“Plant, Machinery and Vehicles are a valuable part of modern day life. However they are also a valuable commodity to thieves and it is therefore important that our community take relevant measures to secure their vehicles and machinery properly.”
“There have also been incidents throughout the force area of vehicle number plates being stolen from parked and unattended vehicle’s, the main reason for this type of theft is in order to fit the plates to another vehicle that has either been or is about to be stolen. Members of the public are urged to be extra vigilant and report any suspicious incidents immediately to Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary on 101.
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Telephone number for Dumfries & Galloway Police 101
Emergency Calls are still on 999
Crimstoppers 0800 555 111
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Dumfries & Galloway Neighbourhood Watch welcomes your input to the site, if you have any local neighbourhood Watch events or information you wish to share contact us at brian.smith953@btinternet.com
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