Buckinghamshire Community Portal News

More than 3,600 year six pupils from across Buckinghamshire made their community a better place over the past months, thanks to a county-wide sticker collecting competition which has just finished.

The CopCards scheme was organised by Thames Valley Police, the four district councils, Buckinghamshire County Council, Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, local primary schools, voluntary and private sector partners. It saw youngsters receiving 24 different stickers for taking part in a variety of activities such as clear-up days, attending talks about healthy eating, internet security, fire safety, recycling and more.

A total of 37,000 stickers were handed out – 7,500 were for youngsters meeting their local neighbourhood policing officers face to face and 1,900 for attending talks on knife crime and anti-social behaviour.

Ch Insp Dave Cherrington from Thames Valley Police, who managed the project on behalf of the partnership, said: “Young people who have a positive interaction with authority figures early on in their lives are more likely to come to us if they have problems or have information that can solve a crime. They also develop a positive attitude towards the law in general, which will help them stay out of trouble.

“Taking part in this competition has taught them valuable life skills which will help them be responsible teenagers who stay safe and make a positive contribution to their community.”

After taking part in the competition, one pupil from Chenies School in Chiltern District said: “There is so much I can do in my community that I didn’t even know about and it is so easy to help by doing little things. Another bonus is that I now know who my local PCSO is.”

Winners announced

Pupils at the schools which collected the highest ratio of stickers per child will each receive a prize.

Ch Insp Cherrington said: “We have been impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the young people and I hope they enjoy their prizes. The scheme could not have been possible without support from our public sector partner agencies and private sector sponsors, who are Legoland Windsor, The Entertainer of Chiltern, John Lewis, AMF Bowling and Empire Cinema of High Wycombe.

Year 6 pupils from the following schools have won a visit to Legoland in Windsor on Tuesday (13/7):

Dorney School (South Bucks)

Cedar Park School (Wycombe)

Curzon Church of England Combined School (Chiltern)

Waterside Combined School (Chiltern)

Seer Green Church of England Combined School (Chiltern)

St Louis Catholic Primary School (Aylesbury Vale)

Oakley Church of England Combined School (Aylesbury Vale)

Oakridge School (Wycombe)

Westfield School Wycombe)

Runners-up

Year Six pupils from Frieth Church of England Combined School (Wycombe), Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School (Chiltern), St Mary’s Church of England School (Aylesbury Vale) and Iver Heath Junior School have each won a rock climbing session.

Eighteen individual pupils and four other schools – Ashmead Combined School (Aylesbury Vale), Longwick Church of England Combined School (Wycombe Rural), Holtspur School (South Bucks) and Stone Church of England Combined School (Aylesbury Vale) have won awards for commitment and contribution.

http://www.buckscopcards.co.uk

Over the past six weeks, Thames Valley Police officers in Aylesbury have been carrying out a crackdown on drug dealers and drug-related crime under Operation Falcon.

Operation Falcon is Thames Valley Police’s long-term strategy to tackle drugs and drug dealing.

Between 10 May and 2 July, a specialist team of detectives and police officers focussed on disrupting the supply of drugs and bringing offenders to justice. The specialist team was supported by the neighbourhood policing teams, response officers and Roads Policing Department.

The crackdown came about as a result of community intelligence. In total, 29 warrants were carried out, 69 arrests were made and £10,000 cash was recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Cannabis plants with a street value of £600,000 and other drugs worth an estimated of £10,000 were seized.   

As part of the crackdown, Angus Kenrich Woods, aged 36, from Windrush Drive, High Wycombe, was arrested on 14 May in Oxford Road, Aylesbury. He was stopped in a vehicle and subsequently swallowed drugs. He was detained in hospital for four days, eventually producing 17 wraps of crack cocaine. He was charged, remanded and on 23 June was sentenced  to four years imprisonment at Aylesbury Crown Court possessing class A drugs with intent to supply.

On 15 May, a drugs warrant was carried out on Bicester Road where a cannabis factory was found with 750 cannabis plants. The plants and hydroponics equipment was seized and one man and a teenage girl were arrested. Thivan Tran, aged 18 and a 17-year-old girl from Aylesbury have both been charged with cultivation of cannabis and abstracting electricity. They have both been remanded in custody and their next court date is still to be confirmed.

Following a report of a disturbance on 15 June, officers attended an address in Oak Green and discovered 350 cannabis plants. On 22 June, Lam Do, aged 18, from Oak Green was charged with cultivation of cannabis and abstracting electricity. He has been remanded to prison.

Of the 29 warrants carried out, 22 related to drugs and seven to theft and handling offences. During seven of the drug warrants, police discovered suspected cannabis factories with a total of 2,000 plants with a street value of £600,000.

Out of the 69 arrests, 41 were for drug offences, 11 for serious acquisitive crime (burglary, robbery, vehicle offences) and 18 for other offences.

Neighbourhood Inspector Omar Abu-Rish, said: “Even though the intense period of action has come to end, work will continue to lock up drug dealers and tackle drug-related crime in Aylesbury Vale.

“Offenders arrested for serious acquisitive crime offences have been found with drugs in their possession and on one occasion one offender stated he had committed a burglary in order to exchange the items stolen for drugs. This highlights the issues between criminal offending and the drugs market.

“Let this be a warning to criminals or drug dealers. We are dedicated to finding you and and locking you up for a number of years, ensuring all drugs are taken off the streets of Aylesbury Vale.

Anyone who has information which can help detectives in their fight against drug dealers can contact Thames Valley Police on 0845 8 505 505.

If you are a resident who has concerns about drug dealers in your neighbourhood and do not want to police or give your name, you can call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

Thames Valley Police detectives in Buckinghamshire are warning residents not to put themselves at risk of being burgled by disclosing their holiday plans on social networking websites.  

The warning comes after local residents reported being burgled after they returned home from a holiday they had told people about on social networking sites.

Det Insp Mark Lynch from Burnham CID said: “Be very careful about who you tell that you are going on holiday and how long you will be away for, whether you are mentioning it to a stranger in casual conversation or posting it on a social networking website.

“Burglars use these websites as much as everyone else and if they come across someone who is telling them they are away on holiday and their profile also says where they live, then you are making it very easy for them indeed.

“You’re better off not publicising your holiday plans on a social networking site at all but, if you must, at least make extra sure you have the correct privacy settings.”

For more information on how you can protect yourself from burglars, visit http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/crprev.htm

Thames Valley Police has launched a new Reading Festival microsite on its website.

The site contains a range of information and advice to make sure that everyone has an enjoyable time at the event, stays safe and reduces their chances of becoming a victim of crime.

On the site, people will be able to find pages giving safety advice, top tips, advice to parents to pass on to festival goers and details of the policing operation for the festival.

During the event there will also be a Twitter feed to the site and YouTube videos will be linked to the pages.

Chief Inspector Les Stone, the day time commander at this year’s festival, said: “This is the first time the Force has created a micro site for a specific event. We hope that it is useful for those who attend the festival in terms of what they should bring to the festival and how they can stay safe.

“We are trying to be as innovative as possible in terms of getting information out to the public to make sure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable time at the festival.”

• View the Reading Festival microsite.

Thames Valley Police in Aylesbury is appealing for witnesses after a suspicious incident occurred on Tuesday (6/7).

Between 3.10pm and 3.30pm, a man approached a number of children who were walking home from Grange School along King Edward Avenue, towards Tring Road and asked them to go home with him. He made no physical contact with any of the children.

The man is described as white, of large build, around 5ft 6ins, aged in his late forties and with dark grey hair, which is brushed off his face and short at the back. He is described as having a large forehead and larger than average head, has a local accent and walked with a limp to his left side, dragging his left leg behind him occasionally; he may also have a disability to his left arm, causing his hand to bend backwards.

He was wearing a light blue shirt with a collar and buttons to the front with sleeves which are either short or rolled up to his elbows, dark grey trousers and black shoes. He was also carrying a white plastic bag.

PC Martin McLaughlin, investigating, said: “The man was last seen on Tring Road, heading towards Tesco at 3.30pm and at this time there would have been a substantial amount of traffic in the area.

“I want to reassure parents and residents that this type of incident is very rare and we are working to identify this man and deal with him appropriately. Patrols in the area have been increased to reassure the students and parents.

“Anyone who recognises the description of the man above, saw him in the area around the time or the offence or witnessed the incident is urged to contact me or Crimestoppers.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact PC McLaughlin at Aylesbury police station via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505. If you do not want to talk to the police, call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Police trap houses across Buckinghamshire are being used in a crackdown on criminals who break into people’s homes.

The homes are fitted with covert high-tech specialist equipment including property marking such as SelectaDNA, which can link offenders directly to a crime scene through its unique code.

Trap cars have been used successfully in the county before, but this is the first time a tactic such as this has been used in houses in the county.

The scheme has already been successful with a number of persons prosecuted and police have the ability to run several houses in Buckinghamshire at any one time. Further operations of this type are planned across the county.

Detective Inspector Dominic Williamson said: “Individuals are not always aware that they have been caught as a result of a police trap house operation because the covert tactics we deploy are often withheld. So far this year the county has seen a reduction in burglaries to people’s homes of 12 per cent compared to the same period last year, which also saw a reduction.

“These operations are excellent examples of partnership working where both private and social landlords have supported the police in tackling burglary.

“The police warning to burglars is that any house you are looking to break into could be a police trap house.”

Det Ch Insp Philip Standish, said: “The increased deployment and use of technology forms a major part of criminal investigation in this area. This successful combination of technology and professional investigation not only secures evidence, but often leads to other offences and those who benefit from burglary being detected and brought to justice.”