Notes of Doddinghurst Neighbourhood Watch
Meeting 6th April 2010
Officials present – David Crackenden, PCSO & Emma Clarke, Crime Reduction Officer.
Finance
Robin reported that there is still £369 available.
Robin has requested money from the police and has been told informally that none is likely to be available.
Robin and Peter Fisk had attended the Parish Council meeting. Robin had previously submitted a request for funding, but the council debated and rejected this request, too. They will, however, continue to allow us to use the Parish Room for meetings.
Robin and Peter picked up three reasons for rejecting the request for funds. One was that the council thought that this was the responsibility of the police. Another was that they felt that householders in a NHW area can claim cheaper house insurance, NHW members should be prepared to make a contribution. A third objection was that NHW should not be spending money on circulating leaflets giving the community advice when the correct place for this is in The Link magazine.
Bill has not heard from Colin for a while. Colin was representing us at the CDRP at a recent meeting and hoping to apply for funds there. Emma commented that the CDRP does not have as much money as expected.
Speedwatch.
In the absence of Jim Smith, Bill reported that the last scheduled Speedwatch was cancelled due to poor weather.
Bill had been invited to a meeting at Braintree but had regrettably had to decline due to the distance and (late p.m. ) time. Bill reported on a letter by Kevin Brown as a follow-up to the meeting. He has forwarded this to some members by email. In future PCSOs will be trained to use the speed cameras and will be able to carry out further training of community Speedwatch members. Bill is concerned that Doddinghurst manages to maintain enough committed Speedwatch members so this should be very helpful. Peter Fisk had emailed Kevin Brown to raise, again, the problem of speeding reports being rejected due to colour definition discrepancies.
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Bill will get in touch with Jim to find out when he has the next Speedwatch planned..
There have been reports of motor cyclists riding around the village at high speed and with irresponsible driving. Bill had read that police motor cyclist would be available to help with speeding issues. He requested one to attend occasionally, but was quickly turned down.
Property Marking
There are now 11 residents interested. Peter Froebel said that although we now have enough to place an order, it would be better to leave it until the May Day ( Monday 3rd May) event to see whether we could get any more before placing the order.
Robin had volunteered to talk about property marking at the next U3A event, but was concerned about the logisitics of distributing any bottles that were subsequently ordered. Robin was concerned as to whether it was necessary to submit registrations in block, but Emma was confident that they could be submitted to SmartWater individually.
Bill reported that Colin is writing widely to invite people to Brentwood Council offices on Thursday 27th April to try to explore what else can be done to revitalise Neighbourhood Watch in Brentwood.
A discussion about an item in The Link about property marking led to a proposal that David, our PCSO, should continue the work that Moira used to do in submitting regular articles.
Crime Update
Emma reported that there have been only three dwelling burglaries in the last month, there was one theft of number plates and one break in to a shed. One burglary attempt was foiled by the strength of the lock. In both of the other cases, car keys and a car were taken. In one case the lock was forced with a screwdriver, in the other case some gadget was used to flip the lock (not double locked, perhaps?) Bill reported that at one of the houses which had been burgled he had advised the occupants about the need for key security some time previously. Presumably the owners had ignored or forgotten his advice. This emphasises the need to push the security message over and over again.
David and Emma will be campaigning about the need to secure garden sheds at all times, and to ensure that house doors are locked at all times when no-one is in the garden.
The Dispersal order is now active until after end of school holidays.
There has been no more information from the police about the arson several weeks ago in Lime Grove.
Ringmaster
There has been no progress, but Bill reported on a suggestion that Essex and Kent should share costs. Emma felt that a text service looks more feasible.
Shopwatch
We now have some of the the details of contact email addresses and 'phone numbers of some shops. Most wanted to participate, but not Brenda at the Post Office. Brenda had tried something similar in the past, but it had failed because other shops failed to pass on messages. This could just be because staff rotas at other shops meant that not all staff were aware of the need to pass messages on. David will visit Brenda and be at his most persuasive!
Junior Section
There was no activity, except Peter Fisk continuing to make more usable marionettes which the children could construct and use to illustrate plays about burglary. He will follow the advice of the meeting to buy some necessary steel wire.
No Cold Calling Zones
Some doubt was expressed about the need for zones in Doddinghurst, as many of us do not seem to suffer from many cold callers. We will query this with visitors to the stall at the May Day event.
There was a general feeling that the problem with contacting and getting agreement from all residents might make it very difficult to get a zone going except in the smallest of cul-de-sacs, such as Willow Close or Apple Tree.
May Day Event
Bill will send out an email requesting volunteers for timed slots at this event.
Next meeting 4th May