DORKING RURAL NEWS
Spring 2008


Dear All

PC Jo Morris and colleagues PC Dom Lorraine and PCSO Pat Booker continue to attend community meetings and look forward to meeting with you if they have not already had the chance for a chat with you. As always they are anxious to know what the community would like from them. Writing on their behalf, I would like to introduce and publicise


Country watch


Surrey Police have set up a new SMS text alert system for all members of our rural community. The scheme is free to join and is aimed at the rural community which incorporates farmers, gamekeepers, farm workers, stables, feed suppliers, fisheries, landowners, and recreational sites. Country watch, provides you with alerts sent direct to your mobile phone, with any incidents reported to Surrey Police within Mole Valley and surrounding areas.


If you would like to sign up please contact PC 2987 Jo Morrison 01483 632225 or e mail Morris2987@surrey.pnn.police.uk



Successful crime solving relies on good quality information being provided to the police. But what happens when an individual holds vital information but is too afraid to come forward? That's where Crimestoppers comes in, providing a facility which allows callers to give vital information without revealing who they are.

Crimestoppers, which is a charity, is 20 years old this year. Since it was founded it has received nearly 950,000 actionable calls, contributed to more than 82,000 arrests and helped recover property and drugs worth more than £230 million.



An Introduction to Surrey Trading Standards


The following details were very kindly supplied by David Bullen, a Trading Standards Officer based at the Leatherhead office. From time to time we will put short notes on issues, in the newsletter, that will be useful about the functions of the various partner organisations that work with Police and Neighbourhood Watch.

Surrey Trading Standards aims to educate consumers about their rights, enable them to enforce their rights and encourage businesses to trade fairly and responsibly and when necessary enforce consumer protection legislation.

Any consumers who want to make a complaint about a trader or seek advice in relation to a consumer dispute can do so by contacting Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.

Consumer Direct is a national consumer advice line managed by the Office of Fair Trading. Details of all calls taken by Consumer Direct are passed on to the local Trading Standards and when required we will contact the consumer to provide further advice in complex cases or take action against/advise the trader when appropriate.

Trading Standards operate an approved trader scheme to help the public find reputable and trustworthy traders. All traders on our Buy With Confidence Scheme have been approved and vetted by Trading Standards before being accepted as a member. The scheme covers most of the South East of England. For further information or to find a reputable trader visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk or phone Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.

It receives hundreds of calls each year in Surrey, covering serious crimes such as assault, rape and firearms as well as graffiti, arson, criminal damage and burglary. Nobody knows who makes these calls but the information they provide is passed to the Police who are then able to take action.

Some recent local successes show the diversity of the calls received:

• One call gave valuable information about a cannabis factory in Surrey — criminal activity that the police did not know about. Thanks to the call they were able to take action.
• Another call led to Crimestoppers immediately passing on information to Surrey Police about a man suspected of carrying a firearm. Surrey Police were sent to the area and the suspect was arrested.
• Detailed information received through Crimestoppers led to a man being arrested and charged with drinking and driving.

Surrey Crimestoppers Board Chairman, Kevin Morris, explained: "Our figures show that more and more members of the public in Surrey are realising that, through Crimestoppers, they can play an active part in keeping their community safe, without any risk to themselves. The quality of the information is also improving, leading to a greater number of offenders being taken off the streets."

To find out more about Crimestoppers, visit the national website www.crimestoppers-uk.org or go straight to the Surrey pages at www.crimestoppers-uk.org/surrey

If you have information about any crime,  phone CRIMESTOPPERS  on 0800 555 111

Your call is free; you are not asked for your name; You may receive a reward

Below are some useful websites:

Surrey Trading Standards website:

www.surreycc.gov.uk/tradingstan dards

Surrey Consumer Support Network (CSN) website: www.surreycommunity.info /surreycsn

Consumer Direct:

www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

Trading Standards offers an email alert service to make people aware of current scams and rogue traders and provide topical consumer information and advice, to subscribe to this free service simply email csn@surreycc.gov.uk .

Important Notice for those with businesses or working in business

There have been recent scams where a person rings a business pretending to be a neighbouring business, and asks them to take delivery of a parcel and pay the fee which they promise to reimburse.  A fake parcel is then delivered by the scammer who pockets the fee and makes a tidy profit.

CONTACT NUMBERS

Mole Valley District Council 01306 885 001

(Graffiti/Abandoned Cars/Fly Tipping) 
Surrey County Council         08456 009009

(Road issues)

Crime Stoppers                     0800 555 111

(Anonymous Reporting)

Consumer Direct                  08454 040506

(Trading Standards)

Neighbourhood Watch         01483 638125

Your Local Rural Officers:  PC Jo Morris & PCSO Pat Booker (Rural West), PC Dom Loraine (Rural East)