Home Watch Scheme
Background
The Tiverton Home Watch scheme has been in place for a number of years and has a Home Watch Area Co-ordinator who is supported by 4 Home Watch Co-ordinators. The Tiverton village Home Watch area has about 100 dwellings and is split into 5 zones, each one of the co-ordinators covering a group of houses. The actual area covered by the scheme is:
- Huxley Lane from the junction with the A49 up to the 30mph sign
- Gardenhurst
- A49 from Gardenhurst down to the canal at Beeston Brook
Asheesh Sharma is the Home Watch Area Co-ordinator and can be contacted via email at: homewatch@tiverton-cheshire.org.uk
Currently information is collated by the Area Co-ordinator and distributed to the Co-ordinators on a weekly basis by email. If there is an issue of urgent local importance then local residents will be informed by their allocated co-ordinator by email, phone call or personal call depending on the urgency.
If you are interested in being added to the distribution list for these emails then please contact Asheesh.
Similarly, if anyone who lives in Tiverton village but outside the current scheme’s boundaries, wishes to create a new zone and become part of the Tiverton Home Watch scheme then please also contact Asheesh.
Home Watch Site Structure
The remainder of this Home Watch page provides a variety of information that is hopefully helpful to the Tiverton community:
What’s New?
This section will be used to highlight any recent issues that have impacted Tiverton.
April 2015 – No reported incidents
March 2015 – No reported incidents
February 2015 – An attempted car break in probably during the cover of darkness at a house near the village green on Huxley Lane.
January 2015 – A possible attempt to steal heating oil from a house in Tiverton on the A49
Common Issues
The level of crime in and around Tiverton village is reassuringly low. There are however some common themes that it would be wise for everyone to be aware of and to take sensible precautions to avoid becoming a victim of crime.
For non-emergency issues please report these on 101, but if there is a crime in progress or to report an emergency ring 999.
Fraud
Thefts involving fraud are becoming increasingly sophisticated and sadly common place and can occur on your doorstep, over the phone and via the internet. There are some simple steps you can take to avoid being caught out:
- Do not let a stranger into your house
- Do not get distracted by someone who knocks on your door such that someone else could enter your property behind your back
- Never give personal information to a cold caller – no matter how credible they sound.
- Common issues include:
o People who call to tell you that there is a problem with your bank card and that they need to collect it from you to fix the problem;
o Fraud committed by people selling event / entertainment tickets, weight-loss / teeth whitening drugs, or vehicles online;
o Fraud committed by people who cold-call thousands of people in the UK in order to sell them an investment in shares or precious metals, or who want them to invest their pension;
o People pretending to be someone they are not in order to persuade your business to send money to a new bank account to pay for an invoice;
o The activities of cyber-criminals who want to infect your computer or smartphone in order to steal your banking details or “lock” important files to prevent you from using or viewing them;
o Fraudsters who persuade people to pay a fee in advance of receiving a loan, which never appears.
All of these can be avoided by following simple fraud prevention advice that can be found on the Action Fraud website: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Note: Please report all cases of fraud to the National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre either online Click here or by telephoning: 0300 123 2040.
Outbuildings
This is a fairly common problem in the rural community with thieves breaking into sheds and outbuildings to take expensive machinery and equipment. These buildings are targeted because compared to houses security is often lax with doors being secured with poor quality locks or even no locks at all. If you have sheds and outbuildings containing valuable items please make sure that you have some decent security on these buildings.
Cars
Thefts of cars happen usually for one of two reasons:
- The car is unlocked and the keys are in the car! More frequent in the winter when the car is started in the morning to warm up/ defrost and the owner goes inside the house to finish their breakfast!
- Car keys are left in a highly visible place in the house and the thief enters the house – often through an open door – and helps themselves to the keys and the car. It is good practice to keep your car keys out of sight.
Houses
It goes without saying that you should lock your house when you are not there. What we sometimes forget or are less careful about is not locking the house when we are in the garden – especially when we are out of sight of an unlocked door. In the summer open windows (especially on the ground floor) offer an attractive proposition as well. Thieves are often opportunistic and can take advantage of a situation in a flash.
When you are away from home for a while it is good practice to make your house look as lived in as possible. Having a few lights on timer switches will make an opportunistic thief think twice. Having a neighbour open and close your curtains or parking their car in your drive will also give the illusion that someone is living in the house.
Computer Security
Fraudsters regularly hack into personal online accounts to obtain details which will allow them to defraud you. To prevent fraudsters, it’s very important to use strong passwords when setting up and accessing online accounts and online banking.
Passwords should be memorable enough not to have to write them down and long enough to be unique and hard to guess, which will ensure they are less vulnerable to being stolen. If it is not possible to remember passwords a password manager could be used to store them securely.
Make sure passwords are memorable so that you don’t have to write them down. Make sure they are unique.
- Think ab0ut how you could change the l3tters in your n0rmal passw0rds to make them more difficult to gue55!
- Use long, non-dictionary words and use different ones for each of your personal accounts and online banking. Make sure you change them regularly.
- Make sure passwords are not stored on devices that have shared access by other people, for example in internet cafes and when using other public Wi-Fi.
Alerts & Newsletters
A variety of alerts and newsletters are available to anyone who is interested, links to the relevant websites are provided below.
Western Rural Neighbourhood Police Inspectors Weekly Reports. Click here
Western Rural Police Monthly Newsletter. Click here
Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network Our News (Monthly). Click here
Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service Monthly Newsletters. Click here
Action Fraud News & Alerts. Click here
Useful Links
There is a Home Watch web site: http://www.ourwatch.org.uk/ that covers England and Wales and provides a large amount of useful information including tips on personal safety, safer homes and neighbourhoods, fire safety and mobile, internet and identity safety. There is a facility on this website for any individual to register and receive Home Watch and related bulletins directly.
Another good website is Cheshire Police Alert: https://www.cheshirepolicealert.co.uk/
This is a community messaging system brought to you by Cheshire Constabulary and servicing the whole of Cheshire. By registering with Cheshire Police Alert, you receive news and appeals, local crime information and crime prevention advice – direct to you as an e-mail, mobile text or voice message. Registering with this site is completely free, and not only allows you to receive messages about your local area, but also allows you to feed back information to your local policing teams to help them better police your neighbourhood.
The Cheshire Fire & Rescue website also provides a raft of useful information and can be found at: http://www.cheshirefire.gov.uk/ in particular around accident prevention.
A new website has been set up to assist with Fraud reporting: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/. There is a wealth of useful information here including news about the latest scams and ways to avoid being caught out. The site also provides a mechanism for reporting Fraud online. There is also a dedicated telephone number: 0300 123 2040 which provides direct access to the National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre.