Most recent police report

Recorded Date	Committed Date	Committed Times	Offence	Street
15/01/13	14/01/13	18:00 to 10:00	Burglary In A Dwelling Unknown offender/s have gained access to the property by using an axe that belongs to the home owner, forcing open a wooden front door. Offender/s appear to have to then used an unknown implement to jimmy a second pine door to gain access to the house where an untidy search has been conducted. Offenders appear to have been conducting the search whilst snacking on McDonalds take away food. Offenders have then left location by unknown direction and unknown means.	Court Road
02/01/13	02/01/13	08:00 to 10:30	Theft From Vehicle  Goods were being delivered to a pub. Vehicle was left unlocked. Unknown offender/s have then approached cab of lorry from an unknown direction and opened the unlocked cab door and removed both their bags and vehicle's mobile phone. Some of the items stolen were recovered in a nearby ditch.	Court Road
02/01/13	01/01/12	23:30 to 07:00	Theft From Vehicle Unknown offender/s have approached the location and used an unknown implement to smash the passenger side windows before gaining entry. Offenders have then made a search and removed a quantity of items including a stereo which has been pulled out.	High Street
23/12/12	21/12/12	02:30 to 08:55	Criminal Damage – Other Not public.	Partridge Piece
11/01/13	11/01/13	09:30 to 15:00	Theft Of Pedal Cycle Unknown offender/s have come to the garden and have stolen a pedal cycle.	Mill Road
02/01/13	01/01/13	23:30 to 17:10	Attempted Burglary In A Building Other Than A Dwelling Unknown offender/s have tried to force entry into the Indian restaurant. Entry not gained.	High Street
02/01/13	01/01/13	19:00 to 09:00	Burglary In A Building Other Than A Dwelling Unknown offender/s have gained access to an integral garage via an insecure garage door. Offender/s have removed tools from the location.	Red Lion Close

Recorded Crime – last 28 days

Anti-Social Behaviour – Last 28 days

20/12/12 – High Street

Business premises. Staff member received a wrong number phone call. Caller then went on to ask inappropriate questions. Number recorded and advice was given to the caller.

Cuts to policing

BBC - Police 'plan to cut 14% of jobs by 2015

Continue reading the main story

There will be 34,000 fewer police jobs in England and Wales in March 2015 than in March 2010, research by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary suggests.

It estimated that the overall cut of 14% will include losing 16,200 officers and 16,100 civilian staff.The HMIC added there was "relatively strong evidence" falling staff numbers might lead to a rise in some offences.Home Office figures showed there are 139,110 officers in England and Wales - 4,625 fewer than March last year.The annual decrease recorded by March this year was 3.2%. The number of police staff stood at 74,010, a decrease of 7% or 5,586 compared with a year earler.

Well it's happening locally already in Cranfield  'Project 2011' will bring changes in October and former beat managers will be doing more of a 'section role'. So we will not be seeing much of them. 

The PCSOs will have additional powers to give out tickets etc but they will be covering a huge area. The government says there is no relationship between crime figures and police numbers but that is flatly contradicted by HMIC (the inspectorate). 

HMIC published research  suggesting that a 10 per cent cut in officer numbers would lead to a three per cent increase in crime.

On the beat

We had a very useful visit from neighbourhood police officer PC John Birch and PCSO Elaine Fleet at parish council last night. Jon came across as really engaged and at the same time he was very honest about how stretched the thin blue line is in a safer neighbourhood team that stretches across the Vale and all the way to Woburn.

The biggest issue in Cranfield in the last few years has been the so-called 'cruise', 'boyracers' or whatever you want to call them. A couple of years ago we got double yellow lines in and that cleared the way for some kind of traffic calming making hi performance hi jinx impossible. Yeh! Now local businesses have coughed up the cost of the various speed reducing structures and these are out for consultation. Someone on the business park has actually objected but we are hoping that will not stop the scheme going in.

So maybe that is on the way out as an issue but there will probably still be plenty to do. Jon related
some of the other distractions in recent months including criminal damage at a mobile in Lodge road, assault in College Road, various thefts and damages and,  would you Adam and Eve it, lead off the porch roof  at the parish church. That's happened before in the last two or three years. There was one extremely odd one that was successfully detected using DNA evidence. Nuff said - minor I would add.

Julia Wright, one of our former PCSOs, has moved away and everyone is feeling the gap. She, along with Leigh Iddon was a great advertisement for the PCSO concept, putting in a lot of local work (specially on the cruise) and getting to know all sorts of people. She was a really familiar face. No doubt Jon, Elaine and their colleague Keith Glen will do a good job as long as they are allowed to hang around.

Dont forget - to make contact tel 01234 842616 or email snt.woburn@bedfordshire.pnn.police.uk

Clerk was hors de combat last night and  I was dragooned, conscripted, asked nicely, asked what the alternative was etc and so agreed to take notes. Finance committee took 90 minutes and then various planning matters took an age  but we made it it in the end. 

There was a lengthy discussion about the village hall management committee's fund raising. The PC will be able to guarantee up to £3,500 which will permit other larger bids to funds like Wren  (aka landfill tax). There were also planning applications relating to Wood End Road, Bourne End and a new neon light for Monty's restaurant. 

The police have been reorganised again and we do not seem to have a beat manager any more.