Do you live in the Central and North side of Headington?

Are you concerned about something the Police can help with?

The neighbourhood team is holding local drop-in surgeries

If you don’t tell them your problem, they won’t be able to tackle it

For details of Headington North neighbourhood surgeries, click surgeries-09.pdf

The Home Office has compiled an information pack to help keep homes safe.  You can order your pack by phoning 0800 456 1213 and quoting “burglary pack”. If you order this pack you will also receive a discount voucher for home security supplies from a major DIY retailer.

Here are some of the things we’ll be discussing at Tuesday’s area committee meeting at Wood Farm School at 6 pm.  Don’t forget that all residents can come along and join in the debate:

• Roads on which there should be 20 mph speed limits
• Improvements to Queen Street
• Whether land at Court Place Farm should be leased to Oxford City Football Club (we’ll also consider an objection to this)
• Planning application re land on the corner of Marston Road/Cherwell Drive
• Change to Marston cycle route
• Police matters relating to the area

See you there!

[THAMES VALLEY COMMUNITY MESSAGING - Oxford - B_04/03/09]

During the last week there has been a series of burglaries in the
Headington area. Electrical items and jewellery have been taken.
Please remember to make sure your home is secure, particularly when
you leave it unattended.

We are aware that there is public concern following the recent spate of
robberies in the Headington area. This is extremely unusual for
Headington which as we know is usually a relatively low crime area. We
would like all the residents to know that we as a Neighbourhood team are
working extremely hard along with CID and other departments to
investigate these crimes and provide reassurance to the public. I would
like to urge anyone who has any information regarding these offences to
contact us on 0845 8 505 505.
PS 1872 CLAIRE GRANT
Neighbourhood Sergeant - Headington North
Cowley Police Station
724-5113
07800702438

*UPDATE 7/1/09*  Our neighbourhood police inspector will attend the next area committee meeting on 20 January to report on the level of crime in the Headington area

Thames Valley Police Press Release 6/1/09: Armed robbery - Headington

Police are appealing for witnesses following an armed robbery in Headington yesterday (5/1).At around 5.05pm, a man walked into Lloyds bank, London Road, just as it was closing and ran behind the counter and demanded money.

He is white and was wearing camouflage trousers and a jacket with a grey hooded top and had his face covered.

Det Insp Simon Morton, leading the investigation, said: “The offender was carrying what was described as a white Uzi gun, which the staff did not believe was genuine.

“He got away with around £1,000 in cash and made off on a bicycle.

“We are linking this incident to two armed robberies at Betfred in London Road on Monday 29 December and Saturday (3/1) and two others at Threshers in Old High Street on Monday 29 December and Sunday (4/1).

“Do you recognise a man of this description? Were you in Headington yesterday and saw a man acting suspiciously? Do you think you know who is responsible for these robberies? If you do, please contact police immediately.

“I would like to reassure the public that we have got a team of detectives working on this series of armed robberies to identify the person responsible.”

Anyone with information that could assist police enquiries is urged to contact Det Insp Morton via Thames Valley Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505. If you don’t want to speak to police and don’t want to leave your name contact the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

We are aware that residents have concerns about the recent incidents at Threshers, Betfred and Lloyds TSB.

Headington is a friendly, welcoming and safe place for people to live, work and shop and it’s a shame that the activities of certain individuals have given rise to some anxiety in the community and in the press.

We are working closely with the neighbourhood police to ensure that they are giving these incidents high priority, and we hope to release a statement from the neighbourhood inspector on our website soon. We will post up details of progress on this site as we receive them, and are working hard to ensure that the situation gets back to normal as soon as possible.

A number of people have asked questions about the surveillance that is carried out by City Council Officers on members of the public under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and our Lib Dem colleague representing Barton, Chris Scanlan, has been pressing for a statement on this.  I thought you might be interested in this response from the appropriate officer in the Legal and Democratic Services department:

For your information the Council has authorised directed surveillance on 24 occasions since the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) came into force. The Act came into force in October 2000. Of those 24 authorisations 6 related to benefit fraud investigations, 13 related to anti-social behaviour/crime & disorder investigations and 5 related to internal disciplinary investigations.

None of the above include investigations into littering, dog fouling or any of the other minor offences, which have made the press in recent months. Over a period of 8 years I think it is fair to say that the Council has used these powers very sparingly.

Under the Council’s current RIPA policy and procedure (which is available on the Council’s website) I receive a copy of each authorisation. If I felt that the Act was being used inappropriately or that the ‘necessity and proportionality’ test had not been applied then I would intervene and require the investigating officer and the authorising officer to justify their actions.

If you have any queries or concerns about this, just hit the Comment? button or email David or me directly (see Contact us in left hand tool bar for details). 

Over the last couple of months some residents in Oxford City have been victims of vehicle registration plate theft.
Thames Valley Police has a supply of anti theft screws which can be used as a deterrent to this type of crime. To fit these screws it is first necessary to remove just one of the existing screws on front and rear number plates and replace them with the anti theft device using a conventional screw driver. It is recommended that the new screw head is left uncovered so that it is obvious to a potential thief that the device is fitted.
If you wish to obtain a free supply of these screws they can be collected from the front counters at either St. Aldate’s or Cowley Police Staions on a first come first served basis.

We are grateful to Martin Ford for alerting us to the Thames Valley Police newslink

We used the search term Headington and retrieved some useful updates on what the Police are doing to uphold safety in our community. We are attaching this link to our left hand toolbar so that residents can find it easily

As those who attended the Area Committee last night will know, the email address for Headington South Neighbourhood Action Group has been withdrawn due to technical problems and David and I have been pressing for details of the new one.

There is now a new email address for this NAG and it is not yet on the NAG website.  The new address is

headingtonquarrywoodfarm@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk

Don’t be put off by this address, this NAG covers a huge part of our ward too - all roads on the South side of the London Road including Brookside, Latimer Road, Lime Walk, New High Street, Kennett Road, Windmill Road, Stapleton Road, Bickerton Road, York Road, Rock Edge, St Anne’s Road, Old Road and all the interconnecting roads in between.

Do contact this NAG if you are aware of any antisocial behaviour in the area

I am about to join a review panel on antisocial behaviour which will have a remit for scrutinising facts and figures on how “antisocial behaviour” or neighbourhood nuisance is tackled by the City officers and the agencies with they work in partnership.

The scope of this panel is being drawn up currently - if you have any ideas about what this should be, or if you have any comments about the way in which antisocial behaviour is tackled across the City, please let me know soon - by Thursday 7 August, or at the street surgery in Latimer Road on Thursday night from 6.00 pm-7.30 pm. I would welcome your comments on this.

The next meeting of the Headington North NAG (Neighbourhood Action Group) is taking place on Wednesday morning. If you live in Old Headington or in the area between the JR and Headington shops and you would like me to convey your views to our neighbourhood police officers and parks officers about issues relating to crime, anti-social behaviour, roads, or open spaces, please contact me by email or phone, or post a comment above.

I talked to Chief Inspector Olly Wright from Thames Valley Police about involving more residents in NAG meetings. It is tricky to get a balance between just having one or two local representatives from Residents’ Associations at NAG meetings, or making NAG meetings essentially ‘open house’ (which could get unwieldy). He is currently writing a constitution for NAGs which he is hoping to introduce across the whole of the Thames Valley Police area in order to make NAGs more consistent. Some residents don’t attend Residents’ Association meetings but still have a view on the way their area is policed or have concerns about one specific issue, and I worry that these people’s views don’t reach the authorities. I would welcome views from residents on this.

As you know, I have given some presentations on resident involvement in NAGs to NAG chairs and members of Thames Valley Police. Recently, following on from this, I was asked to write a short script and do a piece to camera for a police training video on tackling anti-social behaviour. The experience took me out of my safety zone as it was the first time I had embarked on such a project, and I was duly equipped with microphone, a Mastermind chair, brilliant lighting and an autocue machine, complete with a team of sound technician, cameraman, autocue operator and script editor, at the police training HQ in Sulhamstead. The filming will form part of a DVD for duty officers new to an area who are called upon to deal with anti-social behaviour, and will be used for training purposes from October. I think it’s really encouraging that the police trainers are involving members of the public in developing their training materials rather than doing this solely in-house. That’s got to be a good thing.

You may well have seen that the bus shelter on London Road near Sandfield Road has suffered repeatedly from vandalism. As was explained on this site earlier in the month, the shelter itself is in line to be replace soon, and your LibDem councillors have ensured that a notice is placed on the shelter to make sure residents know what’s going on. All the more importantly, we have followed up this and other incidents with the police, encouraging them to increase patrols, in particular on Friday and Saturday nights. We are delighted to say they have now done so and that it is being promoted in the local press.