Calling the police
In an emergency, particularly if you see a crime in progress, call 999. Do not be scared: the police call centre will assess the urgency of your call.
For matters that are not an emergency but still urgent --- such as reporting a crime that has taken place, or suspicious activity or persons --- you should call 0845-6070-999 or the new contact number 101 or you can e-mail contact.centre@sussex.pnn.police.uk.
If you have information about a crime that you wish to give anonymously, call 0800-555111. Calls will not be traced.
If you are the victim of anti-social behaviour, call Emily Chironda on 01424-4567156.
If you are still not sure what to do, talk to your local Neighbourhood Watch street co-ordinator or call the Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator on 01797 224446. Other useful contacts are:
- Crime Prevention Office, Lee Harris, on 0845-6070-999 extension 64215
- www.sussex.police.uk for advice about crime prevention
Crime in Winchelsea
Winchelsea is fortunate in not suffering from a chronic crime problem. The purpose of the village's Neighbourhood Watch is therefore to try to prevent occasional burglaries and car break-ins by encouraging residents to be vigilant and report suspicious activities or persons to the police, and to maintain a network of co-ordinators which can be called into action in the event of a serious incident or emergency.
How the NBW is organised in Winchelsea
Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch tries to ensure that there is a co-ordinator in each street and, in longer streets, one co-ordinator in block. Each co-ordinator is part of a telephone tree, which allows messages to be passed quickly around the village. It is then up to each co-ordinator to contact his or her neighbours to pass on information. Each co-ordinator also has a deputy, who can stand in for the co-ordinator if the latter is absent.
The name of the co-ordinator and his/her deputy for your street has been circulated to each house. If your street does not yet have a co-ordinator, please consider taking on the role. Otherwise, you and your neighbours will be out in the cold. Remember, Neighbourhood Watch is about a community helping itself. To volunteer as a street co-ordinator, contact Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch on 225333 or talk to any of the existing street co-ordinators.
The police
Winchelsea is part of Area ER3 within the East Sussex Division. The area includes Camber, East Guldeford, Icklesham, Iden, Playden, Rye, Rye Foreign, Rye Harbour and Winchelsea Beach. The District Commander is Chief Inspector Trevor Botting, who can be contacted on rother@sussex.pnn.police.uk.
The address of Rye Police Station is at:
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Cinque Port Street
Rye
TN31 7AN
0845-6070-999 extension 66310
please note that this number is for local matters only, not reporting crimes. |
The Rye police station is open from 10:00am to 2:00pm Monday to Friday. but is closed on Saturday and Sunday.
The Rye Neighbourhood Police Team sergeant is:
The Neighbourhood PC for Winchelsea is:
Higher police visibility has been achieved through the use of auxiliary officers called Police Community Support Officers. To contact him, call:
Top | Local Contacts | Contact Us
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Stopping lead thefts in Winchelsea
This has been a problem. Lead was stripped from the vestry roof and houses were attacked. In response, Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch has purchased a pot of SelectaDNA, which is a water-based adhesive containing hundreds of tiny pinhead-sized microdots, just visible to the naked eye. The microdots are marked with synthetic DNA that is manufactured to provide a unique code. The police can read unique customer and database phone numbers on the microdots under a microscope and contact SelectaDNA, who can reveal the identity of the customer. This allows any stolen material marked with SelectaDNA to be traced to a location. Moreover, a thief who touches marked material will himself be marked by the adhesive, which is impossible to clean off. Traces of the adhesive can be detected by UV light, which police routinely use to scan suspects.
The purchase of SelectaDNA has been funded by contributions from residents and a grant of £250 from the Police Property Fund which was secured by Rye Police.
Deter mobile phone theft
You can help deter this growing type of crime and recover a stolen mobile phone by registering it on the UK National Property Register at www.immobilise.com. The thief will not be able to use the phone on either the existing or a new network.
Do the police take Neighbourhood Watch seriously?
In Winchelsea, we are no longer too sure. Our scheme has been running for almost 10 years and has chalked up some notable successes. But we have seen the police come and go, and our relationship has at best been an arms length one. A few years ago, we discovered, purely by accident, that the post of NBW Co-ordinator at Bexhill Police Station had been abolished. No one at Sussex Police bothered to tell us.
Some years later, a grand re-organisation of NBW was announced by Sussex Police. There was to be a three-tier structure at County, District and local level to better integrate NBW into policing, and there was to be the sharing of meaningful intelligence with NBW. The three-tier structure appears to have happened, except that the District tier is exclusively focused on Bexhill (with occasional photo opportunities staged in Rye). Their major achievement seems to be a credit card with discounts for NBW members. The only sharing of intelligence is to continue the established e-mail notification of local crimes sent out to all who ask.
At local level, there has been absolutely no contact between the Rye Neighbourhood Police Team and the Winchelsea NBW scheme, until we contacted the local PCSO earlier this month (September 2011) to express disquiet at the lack of consultation and other issues. The meeting which followed with the NPT sergeant and PCSO was rather disappointing. We were told that the police regard NBW as a collection of individuals and do not recognise collective schemes like ours in Winchelsea. But rather confusingly, the police believe that NBW can nevertheless help reinforce a "sense of community". They could not explain how one can have a community without bringing individuals together.
What to do? Well, NBW will just get on with it. No doubt everything will change again in a couple of years as police officers and PCSOs get shuffled around.
New police contact numberIf you need to contact Sussex Police for anything other than an emergency (eg reporting suspicious behaviour or a crime that has already taken place), instead of calling 0845-6070-999, you can now use 101.
Check crime statistics street by streetCheck out this new database on www.police.uk.
Does lighting reduce crime?Read some of the growing body of evidence that suggests lighting can in fact increase crime.
Do you have your Help Card?Each household in the Neighbourhood Watch area of Winchelsea should have a Help Card. This is intended to encourage residents to report crimes or suspicious activities by explaining what to do in such an event. There is also a list of useful local telephone numbers on the back, including the police and other emergency services; and a space for you to write down the name and telephone number of someone who can be contacted if you are in difficulty. There are also spaces on the Help Card for the names and telephone numbers of your Neighbourhood Watch street co-ordinator and deputy. The Card should be kept close to the telephone.
The Help Card was designed by Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch, with the advice of the local Neighbourhood Police Team and the Rother District Crime Reduction Officer. Funding was raised from the Rother Community Safety Fund and the Parish Council, as well as the Bridge Inn, Nathan at the Little Shop, The Lodge at Winchelsea, the New Inn, Strand House and JC Leisure Motorhomes, to all of whom we offer our thanks.
If you do not have a Help Card, call the Neighbourhood Watch via the Winchelsea Community Answerphone on 01797 225333.
Police Priority Setting PanelsThe Police are required to consult communities and establish priorities for local policing. This is done principally through Police Priority Setting Panels, which usually take place before parish council meetings. Unfortunately, few members of the public attend council meetings in Icklesham Parish. However, you can also give your views directly to the local PCSO or via your ward councillor. The top priority in Winchelsea is speeding traffic.
Stay ahead of frauds and scamsSussex Police have a dedicated fraud unit. However, the police do not have the powers to deal with fraudsters who work from outside the United Kingdom. The priority in these cases is therefore prevention. Here are some of the current frauds and scams that you need to avoid. Most are committed over the internet or by phone.
- Addresses and telephone numbers
- African e-mails or letters
- Astrological predictions
- Bank or credit card details
- Chain letters
- Charity donations
- Data Protection Act registration
- High yield investment schemes & boilerroom scams
- Identity theft
- Inheritance
- Internet sales and cashback fraud
- Lotteries
- Online dating agencies
- Phone scams
- Pyramid selling schemes
- Spring warning
- Trade directories
To find out more, visit the Sussex Police website and look at their fraud information pages
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