Free petrol in Petts Wood

June's crime figures are out for Chislehurst, Petts Wood and Bickley.

We have updated our crime tables which can be found by going to www.chislehurstpettswoodandbickleyvillagenews.co.uk and clicking on Crime from the Home Page menu. As usual the figures make interesting reading.

The “highlights” to take a look at include:

Chislehurst

In December 2013, with 44, Chislehurst had the highest number of anti-social behaviour incidents for the year. Seven of these were on or around Alexander Road.

February saw 14 incidents of criminal damage and arson, a high for at least the previous twelve months. Of these, four were on around our friend – Alexander Road – again. So far no suspects have been identified, either for these or for any of the other five incidents in or around Green Lane.

In May there were an unusually high – 22 – number of violence and sexual offences incidents, of which 15 were in or around the High Street. In not one of these cases has anyone yet been charged.

Bickley

In May, Bickley had the highest number of robberies since at least the beginning of 2013 not only in Bickley but in Chislehurst and Petts Wood also. There were five – two on or near Mavelstone Close, and three on or near Tylney Road.

Petts Wood

Petts Wood saw  five public order offences in December 2013, the highest for the year in Petts Wood. Three of these were at or near the station.

Petts Wood had three robberies in January. To put this in perspective, Petts Wood had no reported robberies for the whole of the first nine months of 2013. For the robbery on or near Hillview Crescent, the offender was sent to prison.

In April, Petts Wood hit a year high for other theft, with 15 incidents, including eight on or near the petrol station in Queensway. In all of these eight cases the investigation has been completed with no suspects identified. In June the number of incidents rose even higher, to 17. This included 11 on or near the petrol station. Of these, three have had the investigations completed with no suspects identified, the other eight are still under investigation. Is Queensway’s petrol station becoming a soft touch for free petrol, Village News asks?

Also in June there were nine shoplifting incidents. The average for 2013 was three per month.

On the plus side,

• there have been few bicycle thefts, an average of one a month across the Village News area for the first 6 months of 2014.
• Bickley saw the fewest burglaries – 3 - in June compared with the previous eighteen months.
• there have been no incidents of possession of weapons in the Village News area so far in 2014.
• there were fewer total reported incidents between the respective months of 2014 and 2013 with the exception of June, helped by those 17 other theft incidents in Petts Wood. July 2013 was the month with the highest number of incidents for the year in the Village News area, so we wait with bated breath for this July’s figure.

In the meantime, the Village News staff are off to a certain petrol station armed with a Jerry can and a pair of running shoes.

© www.chislehurstpettswoodandbickleyvillagenews.co.uk 

Is Fracking on its way to Chislehurst, Petts Wood and Bickley?

Do we want fracking under our homes – aren’t the caves enough?

 

Village News understands that the geological layers under parts of Bromley Borough could contain shale gas, or oil, depending on the composition of the shale layers. Bromley Council has already given a licence to Northdown Energy (now in partnership with Alamo Energy) for a seismic survey in the very south of the borough near Knockholt.

A new group is appealing to Bromley Council to declare the whole of Bromley Borough a ‘Frack-Free Area’ in an online petition by Bromley Against Fracking, set up to challenge any plans to frack within borough boundaries.

Bromley Against Fracking has been campaigning against the process of drilling for methane, said to pose dangers to the water aquifer and supply, a possibility for earthquakes, environmental damage and toxic, irradiated ‘flow-back’ water which cannot be cleaned of its radioactive particles.

Founder member Roisin Robertson said: ‘We started as a Facebook group, however we gained so much support that a group of us got together and with funding produced a leaflet which we have given out on high streets and through letterboxes.’

‘When we realised the strength of support from residents in Orpington, Bromley, and Knockholt, where a seismic survey has already taken place, we decided to set up an online petition to allow residents to tell Bromley Council – which is the Minerals Licensing Authority in this case - they do not want this process happening here.

‘We are asking residents to sign this online petition to protect our local water supply for homes and agriculture from this threat.’

Petition link : http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/frack-free-bromley.html

Bromley Against Fracking now holds regular monthly meetings, details on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/260143874137264/

© www.chislehurstpettswoodandbickleyvillagenews.co.uk

 

Body-worn video comes to Chislehurst, Petts Wood & Bickley

Police officers from four south London boroughs have begun piloting new ‘Body Worn Video’ cameras as part of an ongoing trial into using the technology by the Metropolitan Police Service.

The boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon and Lewisham are amongst 10 that have been chosen to pilot the new video technology in London, which is thought to be the largest trial in the world of the use of such technology by police.
 

The cameras have been arriving at the four boroughs over the past three weeks and are being rolled out to officers on two 999 response teams at each of the four boroughs over the coming days and weeks.

The pilot will see some response team officers wearing the cameras and recording footage that can then be used as evidence in police investigations.

Officers taking part have been given training and guidance about when cameras are to be used, which means they will routinely collect evidence in incidents such as domestic abuse and public order, but also for potentially contentious interactions such as the use of stop and search.

The cameras will not be permanently switched on to ensure the police's interactions with the public are not unnecessarily impeded but members of the public will be informed as soon as practical that they are being recorded.

The pilot, thought to be the largest in the world, will see a total of 500 cameras distributed to 10 London boroughs.

The findings of the year-long pilot will be evaluated by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the College of Policing before any decision about a future roll-out is made. This will tell us if the positive findings of the earlier trials are replicated on a large scale and provide valuable lessons on the best ways to take the technology forward.

South London Area Commander, Simon Letchford said:
“There are some fantastic opportunities through technology to help us improve our policing service to Londoners and I see Body Worn Video at the forefront of this. Video can show an event in a light that would be almost impossible to get across just writing it down on paper.
We’re hoping the use of video will help us to increase confidence in police and allow us to secure better evidence and strengthen our fight against crime. We’re already seeing positive results where domestic abuse convictions have been secured thanks to video, when it might not have been possible without that evidence available.
Our experience in using cameras shows people are more likely to plead guilty if they know there is video evidence, which will also help to speed up the criminal justice system.”