Tadworth & Walton Residents Association & Neighbourhood Watch

Neighbourhood Watch

Mike Fox of Tadworth & Walton Residents Association participated in a session organised by the four Police Borough Teams for the Eastern parts of the County to discuss and exchange information relating to burglary. The police illustrated the different profiles of burglaries impacting the four boroughs.

In Reigate & Banstead criminals mainly target large detached dwellings with most entries being effected to the rear of the property. Burglaries more frequently occur on Thursday evenings between 1800 and 2100 hours. The target is usually jewels but also the opportunity to steal high end vehicles by finding keys in the property. Typically burglars search the main bedroom first when looking for valuables.

The police commented very positively on the value of CCTV and doorbells with built in video.

There have been reports of so-called “Nottingham Knockers” (door-to-door sellers) in both Tadworth & Walton. As well as being a nuisance, sometimes this type of activity is used as a cover for examining a property prior to a burglary attempt so if you are suspicious do consider reporting such occurrences to the Police using the 101 facility.

Scams

Scammers are cloning financial company communications to target savers looking for high returns. The Financial Conduct Authority has issued more than 1,100 alerts about unauthorised firms and scammers this year, with 425 specifically about clone firms. Investec, the Hungarian bank CIB and insurers Allianz, Aviva and Royal London have all found themselves cloned by fraudsters in recent weeks, according to the FCA’s blacklist.

For more information on phone scammers Richmond Police have an excellent Youtube video here.