Vigilant residents helped foil a suspicious cold calling incident in a north Hampshire village.
A group offering to complete repairs at a house in Archery Fields, Odiham, and, when they returned the following day, were met by police officers who made a number of arrests. There is a ‘no cold calling’ zone set up in the village and police moved quickly to track the offenders, who they believe were targeting elderly and vulnerable residents.
But after Neighbourhood Watch members acted quickly, the system has been praised by officers and residents alike. One person has now been charged and is currently awaiting trial while a number of others have been released on bail.
Hampshire Constabulary’s Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, Sue Gibson, said: “This is a wonderful example of what Neighbourhood Watch is all about and why they are the major working partner with the police in trying to deter criminal activity. Odiham Neighbourhood Watch were completely on the ball with this incident and helped to save a homeowner from being conned out of a large amount of money.”
Sally Tunstell, chief coordinator of Odiham Neighbourhood Watch, said: “I think that we have had a very successful outcome, thanks to the vigilance of members of the neighbourhood Watch, and the fact that information was passed to the right people at the right time. Due to excellent work by both police and Trading Standards at least five people have been caught and are being dealt with. I am thrilled to see that when we all pull together, we can achieve some amazing results.”
PC Vicky Bolan, of the Odiham Safer Neighbourhoods Team, added: “We have had some excellent results and will hopefully be bringing a number of offenders to justice through the youth court system. This is thanks to intelligence passed to us by members of the public. As police we understand that people are reluctant to pass information to us for fear of repercussions, however information can be dealt with confidentially and anonymously, and so we would urge anyone who has information on crimes to phone in and tell us.
“Thanks to brave members of the public and information sharing by Neighbourhood Watch and police we have prevented other crimes and taken offenders off the streets. I hope this continues to happen so more people can be brought to justice.”
