Welcome! Join us!
We hope you will visit our site on a regular basis to find out what is happening in Doddinghurst Neighbourhood Watch. Even Better - please come to our meetings which are normally on the first Tuesday of each month at 2p.m in the Parish Room at the Village Hall. (See below) .
Latest News
Kevin Sanderson, our temporary replacement PCSO has now returned to his duties at Warley. We welcome Dave Creckendon, our new PCSO. Dave has been patrolling around the village and will be addressing an assembly at the Junior School shortly
We recently circulated almost all the properties in Doddinghurst with contact details for Kevin and for NHW. We also included a leaflet about how to reduce the risk of burglary. Unhappily, we then heard that some of the letters had been discarded unread as junk mail, perhaps because of the envelope design. We therefore got the Junior NHW, at their last meeting, to design some more lively and interesting envelopes ready for the next distribution. We hope to adapt something from their designs, located here
There were several burglaries around the village a few weeks back, mostly aimed at stealing keys to expensive cars. In one case the car's owner was followed to her house and the burglary attempted later. This suggests that cars are being stolen to order. The latest target of thieves in the area (but not yet in Doddinghurst) is the expensive catalytic converters fixed underneath all petrol-powered cars. Everyone is advised to keep their cars as well secured as possible at all times, as it only takes a few minutes with a small angle grider to steal several hundred pounds-worth of converter and render the car unuseable
We are still keen to hear from people who would like to mark their property, big and small using one of the new marking fluids that can uniquely identify property from a particular house. We have been told that this type of product can dramatically reduce the value of stolen items to a burglar, as well as making items in his possession competely traceable by police. If widely implemented through the village with street signs to warn potential burglars, we could achieve a big reduction in our local risk of burglary. We have selected the product calles Smartwater, and initial supplies should be delivered shortly
Local Fire Officers have installed some of the new smoke alarms with 10-year life batteries for NHW members. The members have welcomed the advice offered at the same time. One point in particular is that everyone should have a plan for what to do in the event of a fire on their property. There is no charge for this service. Please contact us if you would like to take advantage of it.
Don't Miss It!
Don't miss the Essex police website. It looks great and has lots of useful information.
Forthcoming Meetings
Next NHW Meeting Tuesday 3rd August at 2.pm in the Parish Room, to be followed by a NAPS meeting.
Agenda:
Welcome
Introductions
Apologies for Absence
Finance - Robin
Membership Numbers - Bill
Smart Water - Peter
Street Co-ordinators - Bill
NHW Junior Section - PeterSpeedwatch - Jim
Crime Update - Emma/DaveAOB