Northfield Constituency Policing Teams April 2019 Newsletter - Northfield - Castle - Longbr idge

Welcome to the new Newsletter from the Northfield Constituency Policing Teams. In addition to the crime updates we regularly send out through WMNow we also want to keep you updated with some of the other more positive work that your local policing teams in the Kings Norton, , Weoley and Northfield areas are doing.

Last week we said goodbye to Insp Luke Cole who, following promotion to Chief Inspector has taken up a new post at Lloyd House. A/Insp Mike Dunbar has now taken over as Police Inspector for Northfield Constituency.

Over the last few weeks, officers from all four Northfield wards have been carrying out extra, high visibility patrols through the night and into the early hours of the morning, in an effort to deter burglary and vehicle crime offenders, and provide reassurance to local residents. In addition to high visibility patrols, we are using a number of other tactics to prevent and disrupt criminal activity, including: Targeting known offenders, offender management, curfew checks, plain clothes patrols and what we call target hardening. ‘Target Hardening’ is where you as local residents can help. Making ‘targets’ such as your home and vehicle more resistant to attack or more difficult to remove or damage will reduce your chances of becoming a victim of a crime. This could include, fitting better doors or windows, replacing old or damaged locks with Anti-Snap locks (Page 6) installing security lighting, alarms or CCTV. Other simple and low cost measures can also include, using timer switches or buying a steering wheel lock for your vehicle (Page 6) and much more. Criminals by nature are opportunists and if they can gain access to you home or vehicle without having to force entry, they will. We’re urging residents to ensure your homes and vehicles are Secure. Crime Statistics (Data from Police.co.uk) Jan 2019 Feb 2019 Residential Burglaries Kings Norton 36 36 Longbridge 17 13 23 32 Northfield 16 16 Vehicle Crime (Theft of/from/Interfere) Kings Norton 30 24 Longbridge 40 8 Weoley Castle 25 24 Northfield 18 22 Robbery (Person uses or threatens force to steal) Kings Norton 12 12 Longbridge 8 8 Weoley Castle 7 4 Northfield 11 5 Follow us on Twitter Compare Crime statistics

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Weoley Kings Norton Contact details for your local team Northfield Constituency Policing Teams April 2019 Newsletter Kings Norton - Northfield - Weoley Castle - Longbr idge Street Watch Updates All four Northfield Constituency Wards now have Street Watch schemes in operation and all continue to grow in size. Street Watch members are now regularly seen walking around the local area, promoting good citizenship and supporting a better neighbourhood. By volunteering their time to do this they are providing a visible reassurance and engaging in local issues affecting the area. As a Street Watch member they are contributing to making their area a better and safer place to live, and it’s also a great opportunity for them to meet other people who live in their area. Longbridge Street Watch is the latest scheme to be created. Having been trained only last month, they have already completed over twenty patrols, during which they have helped make their area safer just by being visible and reporting issues such as broken street lights, pot holes and fly tipping. StreetWatch members regularly use the FixMyStreet App while on patrol to report local issues. PCSO Sally Orton from the Longbridge Policing Team, supports the Longbridge StreetWatch members, and along with her colleagues has joined them on a number of patrols, providing further reassurance to both the community and the scheme members.

Last month, StreetWatch members from Northfield and Weoley Castle were invited to join local officers in Northfield Town Centre in order to raise the awareness of knife crime. It was a great opportunity for our volunteers to support local policing initiatives.

Northfield StreetWatch members also had an opportunity to raise awareness of the good work they are doing, when they were joined on one of their patrols by a reporter from the Mail. Click here to read the article, and see how Northfield StreetWatch “Debunked” some of the myths about the scheme. If you are interested in starting a StreetWatch scheme in your area or would like to join an existing scheme, email: [email protected]

How we are helping and supporting young people in our area. Our focus is very much on partnership work to reduce harm through prevention and intervention at the earliest opportunity. That means working better with partners and communities to protect young people from harm, build trust and intervene early to prevent future offending. Officers from all four wards are actively engaged in initiatives designed to help and support young people. Teamworx and Inspired Choices are just two examples of the initiatives local policing teams are delivering in Primary and Secondary schools in the area. We are working with our partners from Fire Service and Birmingham Youth Services, as well as other organisations such as National Trust, Willmott Dixon, Fortem, Asda and others to help and support young people. Our aim in delivering these initiatives is to work with selected young people and engage them in activities designed to enhance social and teamwork skills, improve career aspirations and help them ‘connect’ with their communities, as well helping them to realise that the decisions they make now as young people can have an impact on the rest of their lives. We will feature some of these initiatives in future newsletters. Northfield Constituency Policing Teams April 2019 Newsletter Kings Norton - Northfield - Weoley Castle - Longbridge

Last week our Connect & Build Team arranged for AlterEgo Creative Solutions to visit local Secondary schools in the South Birmingham area, including Kings Norton and Northfield, with the aim of raising awareness of County Lines to students and parents. AlterEgo are one of the UK’s leading applied theatre companies and use theatre and related media to illustrate the narrative and kick start conversation on several topics including the Criminal Exploitation of young people and specifically, the issues relating to county lines involvement. County Lines is a way to describe a specific type of criminal exploitation. This is where gangs and organised crime networks exploit children to sell drugs. They are often forced to travel to different counties, and they use dedicated mobile phone 'lines' to Click sell these drugs. This is where the term comes from. Here In total, nearly two thousand students and parents will have seen the performance during the week. The event has been organised by and has been funded by South Birmingham Community Safety Partnership and the Schools. Children are being exploited by This is a real and growing form of criminal activity that exists gangs involved in drug crime. nationally and regionally across the West Midlands. Local Know the signs to spot. schools and local police are working together to spot signs of exploitation and ensure young people are safe. We’re keen parents are aware and able to offer support.

We welcome two new PCSO’s to the Constituency, PCSO Ed Williams will be joining the Kings Norton Policing Team and PCSO Luke Field will be joining the Weoley Castle Team.

PCSO Ed Williams will soon be working with the Kings Norton Team having completed his training at Tally Ho. Ed joins West Midlands Police having previously been a pub manager, which means he brings his experience and skills dealing with people to his new role. Ed is a keen Rugby player having previously played for Gloucester Rugby Academy Club and is looking forward to using his sporting background to engage with some of the young people in the Kings Norton area.

PCSO Luke Field has joined West Midlands Police straight from college and has been inspired to join by his Dad, who is also a Police Officer. Luke is from the South Birmingham area, so is aware of some of the issues that affect people in the area. Luke is looking forward to helping and supporting vulnerable people across the Weoley area and also sees this role as a great opportunity for self development. Neighbourhood Watch Following a meeting we held in February with Weoley Castle Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators, we have this week provided a small amount of funding to enable them to fund the hire of a venue through 2019. This will enable all of the Weoley NHW Schemes to come together, supported by the Weoley Castle Policing Team, to discuss local issues and concerns but also look at how working together as a community we can help make Weoley a better and safer place to live and work. If you would like to know more about Neighbourhood Watch, or to see if you have an existing scheme near you, click the NHW logo. Northfield Constituency Policing Teams

“Creating Stronger and Safer Communities”

This year the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner pledged there would be ‘a conversation with every child,’ in the West Midlands about knife crime. Backing up that pledge is a new campaign from the force.

The #lifeorknife campaign, which has been informed by the region’s schoolchildren, teachers, police officers, doctors, paramedics and members of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Youth Commission, encourages children to talk about knife crime with parents, teachers and peers.

We continue to urge parents, guardians & teachers among others to TALK to young people and for us all to STOP and THINK about what next. For more information click on the picture on the right.

Signs you might want to talk to your child about Knife crime:  If they have become withdrawn from the family and school, changed their behaviour, achievement or school attendance  If they might have lost interest in hobbies and old friends and now hang around with a new group, staying out late and being vague about where they go.  If they have become secretive and defensive, particularly about what’s in their bag and might even told you that they need to carry a knife.

These things seem easily explained as part of the difficult teenage years, but it’s still important to talk to them about knife crime.

Local Policing Teams play a key role in having this conversation with young people. Last week, PC Perry and PCSO Fox from the Longbridge Neighbourhood Team visited Anderson Amateur Boxing Club in Northfield to speak to the young people about the issues related to knife crime and raise their awareness of the consequences of getting involved in knife crime and advice on personal safety. PC Perry said “It was Inspiring to see so many young people focused on training really hard, they all had a great attitude and were very engaging with the knife crime input.” PC Perry & PCSO Fox are well known in the Longbridge and Frankley area by the young people they come into contact with. They are always happy to offer them help, support and diversion in order for them to steer away from crime and negative influences. Our Connect & Build Team, who deliver our young persons early intervention programme, Inspired Choices, have now included knife crime awareness into the programme with the aim of starting that conversation with young people.

Click: Signs you might Click: Further information and Click: What you might want to talk to your child advice want to say to your child about knife crime Contacting West Midlands Police

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