North West NPA

Autumn/Winter 2016

Now that the clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in it would be an ideal time to remind everybody to take a few simple steps to prevent you from becoming a victim of crime.

 make sure your home looks occupied by using automatic timer switches to turn on a light when it goes dark, even if you are just out for a couple of hours  keep doors and windows locked at all times – even if you pop outside to the garden or go upstairs  always lock doors behind you and remove the key from the lock  keep valuables, bags, cash and keys out of sight and keep them in a safe place  don’t leave packaging from expensive items outside your house – take it to be recycled or put them in the bin  install a visible alarm system and security lighting to act as a deterrent  prevent easy access to the back and sides of your home with locked gates or fencing  if you’re going away, don’t advertise it on social media

It's that time again, Christmas is coming! On Tuesday 8 November together with North West Leicestershire District Council we held our third li- censee workshop.

This is an opportunity for the police, North West - shire District Council and local licensees to meet and dis- cuss our plans for the festive period and help achieve our aim of ensuring that everybody can go out and have a great night and be safe.

The workshop marks the start of our planned activities throughout November and December. We are fortunate to have a close working relationship not only with North West Leicestershire District Council, but also the pubwatch schemes in Ashby and . Among the topics covered during the workshop were, child sexual exploitation, drugs awareness and drug seizure.

leics.police.uk NWLeicsNPA North West Leics Police Kayleigh’s Love Story We also took the opportunity to show ‘Kayleigh’s love story’, which was made by Leicestershire Police and highlights the dangers of online grooming. The story of Kayleigh Haywood is well known to many local people and it is hard to believe that we are approaching twelve months since she was murdered.

The film has been shown to over 10,000 children in Leicester, Leicestershire, and and CEASE (Campaign for the Eradication of Abuse and Sexual Exploitation) has now received over 10,000 pledges. Kayleigh was a local girl and we will continue to do all we can to ensure that the children and young peo- ple of North West Leicestershire are safe. The film will be available publicly in January 2017.

Celebrate Safely On Saturday 3rd December 2016 at the Coalville & Ashby Light Switch-on, we will be launching our Christmas Celebrate Safely Campaign. We have support from Turning Point Drugs & Alcohol rehabilita- tion project, North West Leicestershire District Council, Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service, the Road Safety Partnership and our Street Pastors. Our key messages are: Personal Safety Look after yourself. Enjoy alcohol sensibly and know your limits, Drugs are illegal - don’t put licensees in a position where they have to refuse you entry. Plan ahead After a night out, how are you getting home? Who are you going home with? Book a cab at the start of the night. Property Vehicles Don’t leave valuables on display. Homes If you are using candles ensure you put them out or use an electric candle. Invest in a light timer. During the festive period we will be visiting licensed premises and we will be on the streets to educate local people, giving them the opportunity to take a non-evidential breath test which will indicate the amount of alcohol they have drunk. This will be accompanied with advice about calorie intake, safe limits, the ability to drive and to ask them to consider safe ways to get home having consumed alcohol.

To move or not to move? Prince’s Trust attachment Some time ago we announced our intention PCSO Jason Harriman from the Ashby neighbourhood to move from the current police station on team recently returned from a twelve week attachment London Road. The intention was that we to the Prince’s Trust. would build an extension to the Fire Station This gave Jason an oppor- in Coalville and move into there. tunity to share his skills as a neighbourhood PCSO and I am delighted to say that construction of learn more about engage- the new building at the Fire Station will start ment with young people. Ja- in the New Year. I do not have any dates for son had a highly successful likely completion, I will keep you updated attachment and we have with progress. seen the benefit of this since his return.

If you would like to receive regular updates about policing in North West Leicestershire you can sign up to our free messaging service, Neighbourhood Link. Please visit this link for more information www.neighbourhoodlink.co.uk

leics.police.uk NWLeicsNPA North West Leics Police North West Leicestershire volunteer cadets At a recent ceremony held at Leicestershire Police headquarters, our volunteer police cadet team won the Saville Shield.

This is an award for teams who volunteer for Leicestershire Police and this group of young people are an important part of the team at North West Leicestershire and are a credit to themselves.

Leavers and Joiners We have had a number of changes to our staff.

Sergeant Audrey King, who was the team leader for the Ashby and Forest Neighbourhood teams, has moved to Braunstone as a team leader on the Patrol and Resolution team. I would like to thank Audrey for her hard work and enthusiasm particularly her work on licensing. Audrey’s replacement is Sergeant Colin Gardner who will be well known to many of you having worked at Coalville previously as a neighbourhood PC and Sgt.

PCSO Suzie Hunt from the Bardon Hill neighbourhood team has recently moved to and , where she will be part of the team policing Bosworth. PCSO Jennie May from the Forest neighbourhood team has left Leicester- shire police and is moving to Cheshire where she will become a police of- ficer. Both Jennie and Suzie have been tremendous assets to the team here at North West Leicestershire police and everybody here wishes them every success for the future.

As replacements for Jennie and Suzie I am delighted to welcome PCSOs Bekki Hales and Elena Chambers. If you see them out and about please take the time to stop them and say hello. I am sure they will be great assets to the team.

That is all for the time being. I am now in my fourth year as the police commander for North West Leicestershire and I continue to be proud of the work your police team do on your behalf to keep you safe.

If you see any members of my team whilst they are out and about, take the time to stop and say hello, I am sure they will appreciate it.

Wishing you all an early Happy Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Helena Bhakta Email: [email protected]

leics.police.uk NWLeicsNPA North West Leics Police