Winter Nights - Updates
Spennymoor and Newton Aycliffe Area
Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be proactively targeting the top ten streets for burglary in the Spennymoor and Newton Aycliffe area over the winter period as part of operation Winter Nights. Part of this work will involve Home Office home security packs being distributed to all homes and there will be an active drive to build effective Neighbourhood Watch schemes in these locations.
Officers will also as part of their routine evening patrols, be involved in the delivery of calling cards to houses found in darkness. The cards will identify the name of the officer and highlight that the house was seen in darkness and as a result potentially vulnerable. The card also provides security advice and police contact information.
Throughout the campaign, victims of dwelling burglary and their immediate neighbours will be visited by the Neighbourhood Policing Teams and offered the following security packs free of charge:
- A Smart water home security property marking kit.
- 2 window alarms
- 2 door alarms
- Light timer switch
- Home Office Home Security Pack
Durham Area
As part of Winter Nights, work is being carried out to reduce the number of burglaries carried out at student properties in and around Durham City Centre. A similar initiative was run last year and proved to be very successful.
This year the operation was kicked off earlier to ensure as much prevention work as possible could be carried out ahead of the students arriving in October for the new academic year. As part of this work we are looking to set up a student watch and land lord forum among other initiatives. This initiative is being carried out in partnership with Durham County Council to ensure there is coordinated approach to tackling this issue.
The first full month of the operation has proven very successful. There have been a number of persons arrested and charged. The detection rate for dwelling house burglaries in September 2009 was an impressive 56% and the number of reported incidents fell to 16 which is well below the 25 average. We anticipate more success from this initiative as we move through the winter period and continue with the good work which has already begun.
