NHW SA Advice for protecting sheds and tools following shed & garage burglaries across south Warwickshire
Please be aware that there has been a spate of shed burglaries,
garage burglaries and thefts from gardens, across the county, over the
last couple of weeks. The latest incidents in south Warwickshire have
occurred at homes in Wootton Wawen, Welford on Avon, Henley in Arden and
Stratford.
Attached is a leaflet containing basic crime prevention advice, on
how best to protect your shed, bicycles, tools and equipment.
Please be alert and actively on the lookout for suspicious person
or activity around your own or neighbouring homes and please report
anything of concern, to Police, on 101.
Finally, the best deterrent to thieves is mark your property. This
can be done very inexpensively and in several different ways. The
cheapest way is to write your postcode on tools and equipment with a
permanent marker pen which is a very visible deterrent as thieves cannot
sell your items on without question, and do not want to be caught with
marked items.
Another effective way is to mark your items with Smartwater,
available through Neighbourhood Watch or from Stratford Police Station
for £15.00 per kit. Each kit marks around 50 items with a clear DNA
like solution which you register to your address. This is not a visible
deterrent but signage applied to items and sheds does put off thieves
who know that if they are caught with stolen items, the items can be
traced back to their owners.
A newer product is a Cremark kit costing around £12.00. This has
been developed by 2 ex Police Officers from Lincolnshire and is a kit
containing an indelible pen for visually mark items and then a spray on
solution which is virtually impossible to get off, to cover the pen
markings.
There are, of course, other effective products on the market at very reasonable prices.
Thankyou
Julie Dale
Warwickshire Police
