You may have read in Get Reading the terrible news that a 91 year old woman was burgled while she slept on Erleigh Road on Sunday.
According to the news report two thieves broke into the back door of the woman's house in Erleigh Road using a shovel and searched the downstairs of the house before moving upstairs and waking the woman by searching her bedroom at around 2am.
This is a disgusting crime and I have written to Inspector Penny McKenzie of Thames Valley Police to ask her what the Police is doing to support residents and reduce the number of burglaries in our area.
If you have any information about this incident you can call Det Sgt Wappner on 101 or the charity Crimestoppers on 08458 505 505.
Burglary remains the Redlands & University Neighbourhood Police team’s main priority with 9 reported to the police from the 1st to the 22nd of October. The main items taken were small electrical items such as lap tops, mobile phones etc.
The team would like to remind residents hat you can get these types of items security marked at a police surgery ( time and dates are listed below), and to remember to close and lock doors and windows when going out. With the darker evenings, leaving a light on in the property will also help to deter offenders.
Redlands & University area Neighbourhood Police Team Have your say meetings.
15/11/11 17.00hrs Erleigh Road
06/12/11 17.00hrs Donnington Road
Police Surgeries
Co-op 17.00hrs until 18.00hrs
19/12/2011
RBH 12.00HRS Until 13.00hrs Craven road Entrance.
14/11/2011
15/12/2011
As your local councillors If we can be of any further assistance on this or any other local matters please do not hesitate to contact us.
UPDATE
Since writing this post I've received this very reassuring response from Inspector Penny McKenzie:-
Fortunately this type of offence in terms of the time of the offence and age of the victim is rare and although the offence occurred in Erleigh Rd, it is the only burglary to a house in that road since 1996 and there have only been three others in that area in the last month – one in London rd, one in Hatherley Rd and one in cardigan Gardens.
The local area has been designated as a patrol hot spot so all patrolling officers pay particular attention to this area. The local Neighbourhood officers have also increased their patrols and are offering on going support to the victim.
The PCSO’s have been travelling on the local buses in the morning to hand out crime prevention leaflets. This is to target those working as their homes are likely to be empty for most of the day as we do generally see an increase in burglaries at this time of year as it is dark so early, it is easy to see which houses are probably empty.
The team have been delivering cards to those houses that appear empty to remind people of the crime prevention measures they can take and as always, we conduct thorough investigations when a burglary is reported.'
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