THE POLICE TEAM:

A Safer Neighbourhood Team comprises one Sergeant, 2 Police Constables and three Community Support Officers. Our Sergeant is Darren Mercer and he is in charge of 2 teams: Surbiton Hill, of which we are a part, and Saint Mark’s Hill. Both teams work out of the YMCA in Victoria Road.

Our Community Support Officer is Sophie May who has recently taken over from Dan Harris.

The team can be contacted by e-mail or by 'phone on 020 8721 2518. If you ring this number you can pass on any concern to the team, or leave a message if they are off duty and they will get back to you as soon as they can.

So when might you call them? Perhaps you notice an abandoned car, or a door to door caller without appropriate identification that you are uneasy about, or someone just hanging around and you wonder if it is OK. We all are police eyes and ears and they are at the end of the phone to advise us.

However, this is not a rapid response unit and if you need urgent help you should ring "999". If you do, be aware your call is dealt with centrally and you will be asked for your postcode and address. This will be read back to you and it is essential you check it is correct otherwise a car may be sent to a wrong address.

Note, the Met Police now has a non-emergency contact number "101" which you can use if you cannot reach the Safer Neighbourhood Team.

HOW IT WORKS:

Each road has its own Neighbourhood Watch coordinator and each resident should know who this person is and how to contact them. If you do not know who your road coordinator is, please e-mail the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator and mention your address.

When a crime occurs in Southborough, the police inform the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator who keeps a list of incidents and then passes it on to all the road coordinators; the road coordinators then inform the residents in their road as appropriate. The police may also ask the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator to pass on advice they would like disseminated to all of us.

Each resident should have a fridge magnet showing the contact details of the Safer Neighbourhood Team. If you have mislaid your fridge magnet you can request a new one from our Community Support Officer, Dan Harris, or your Neighbourhood Watch road coordinator.

SECURITY ADVICE:

Here is a summary of the advice from the police following previous incidents in the area:

• Fit a burglar alarm and use it at night as some burglaries are at night with residents asleep in bed
• Block access to the rear garden if possible and do not leave bins by the side gate as a burglar could use them as a ladder to climb over
• Lock away ladders
• Do not leave valuables visible through windows
• If you have a security light, be sure it is on
• Remove items easily stolen from front gardens
• Do not leave bicycles in the front garden or an open garage
• Do not put out cardboard packaging which advertises expensive purchases, like a new widescreen television.

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