Over the weekend, multiple thefts from cars and thefts of bikes have taken place, mainly in the Kew area of Southport.
In response to vehicle interference incidents in February, one man was arrested and charged with 6 offences of that kind. He is currently on bail for 5 of these and has an electronic tag monitoring a curfew. Three weeks ago another man was arrested and charged with two more counts of theft from vehicles, plus one count of shop theft and one of stealing a bike.
Over the weekend, PCSO’s have visited the victims of four incidents of burglary and theft from motor vehicle, and carried out house to house and CCTV enquiries. This work is continuing today. We are currently putting all the incidents together and establishing which posts on social media correspond to which crimes and will be trying to contact victims for photos and frame numbers of the stolen bikes.
We encourage people to report all crime incidents to the police through the correct channels, so that we can track crime patterns effectively and because social media, useful as it can be, is not part of the legal process.
We regularly put out crime prevention information to make residents aware of the issues and so that they can take proactive measures to try and reduce the risk of themselves becoming victims however, these incidents, so soon after arrests have been made for similar offences, clearly demonstrate that there is a need to be more secure than ever.
ALWAYS double check that vehicles are locked before leaving them parked up for the night.
NEVER leave anything of value in vehicles and especially not on view. Purses, handbags, wallets etc should always be taken with you when you leave your vehicle.
LOCK bikes with the strongest chain you can afford, every time you leave them and even when inside a locked shed/garage.
REGISTER bike frame numbers for free on the Bike Register database at https://crowd.in/7YKyZh
Registering your bike won’t stop it from being stolen; Only a sturdy lock will reduce that risk, but it will help it get returned to its rightful owner.