How to protect yourself and how to help the Police

To protect yourselves. We advise all people to make sure that valuables are not kept close to windows or doors, where they may easily be grabbed. That they are not on show if someone was to walk past the window.  When you are inside your home, make sure that doors and windows to your property are locked, especially if you are going to bed. When exiting your vehicle, make sure that all windows are up and the vehicle is locked, If you are moving shopping from your care to your home please close and lock any doors to your vehicle and home. It may be inconvenient to continue to open and close it, but thieves would not be given an opportunity to steal your property. 

If you have a keyless car, consider buying a faraday bag or box which can block signals coming from the key. Consider having a steering lock which can be visible and deter criminals straight away. If you have a vehicle with tracking information, please take note of how to log in and show this information to the police. If you do not have a vehicle with tracking, consider using a ‘find my’ Tag and leave it in a discrete location where it may not be found so that should it be stolen it's where abouts may be known to you and the police. If you are considering having CCTV or have CCTV make sure that the camera is not obstructed and it follows the rules set out by the Information Commissions Office Home CCTV systems | ICO. 

Make sure that the ‘find my’ option on your mobile phone and other electronics that have that facility is switched on and that it is protected via a code or password. Write down the IMEI number for your mobile and other serial numbers for electronics that have them. If you have the facility mark your property and take pictures so that, should they be recovered, it will easily be identified. Pass on any pictures and information to the Police. 

Never put yourself in harm's way should you come across thieves. It's not worth the risk to your safety, and that of your family. Take in as much information has possible that could be of use to the police using ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’ 

Anything that you pass onto us will help us in our enquiries to arrest those involved and to bring them to justice.