A number of burglaries have been reported in villages near Grantham over the last few days, namely Oasby, Colsterworth, and Marston.
They are mainly happening in the early evening when offenders have made their way into properties before quickly searching through rooms and quickly exiting.
Inspector Gary Stewart, of Community Policing in Grantham, said: “We have seen a recent spate of burglaries in villages and I am issuing an urgent appeal to the public to be vigilant, to report any suspicions to police on 101, and also to help out your neighbours.
“Your house may be secure; you may have left a radio or television on; you may have heeded all of our advice on ways to deter potential criminals.
“We are grateful for that and it can work as a deterrent but we ask you not to rely on it completely. If you are away from home and someone knocks on your door and nobody answers, even if it appears you are in, it could be a tell-tale sign that the property is empty.
“We massively need the public’s help on this. As much as we would like to, it’s not possible to have police officers everywhere all of the time. That’s why I am asking people to take some further steps on top of the practical crime prevention advice.
“If you are going out tell a neighbour and ask them to keep an eye on your property, and do the same for them. If you or they see anything or anyone suspicious then ring us as soon as possible on 101. You might, for example, have someone knock on your door in the early evening and ask for directions. This might be legitimate but it could also be an excuse to see if householders are in.
“If that happens then report it to us. Let us be the judge of what is important, we could have had a number of others calls from people nearby reporting the same thing and that will tell us that something suspicious is going on in that area.
“I would rather we have hundreds of phone calls come in that we determine unimportant and find one in there that gives us something significant than I would have no calls because people don’t want to bother the police.
“And remember that there is no stereotypical get-up for a burglar. An individual at your door could be smartly dressed or wearing a suit, it could be a woman., they could be in a uniform of some kind. They are not stupid and will use every trick in the book.
“One final plea – please don’t leave anything that is of value anywhere that is easily accessible. We believe that offenders are getting in and out of properties quickly, some as quick as just 20 minutes, and they are grabbing things that are easy to shift and easy to sell on – jewellery, cash, handbags, wallets, et cetera. Larger, expensive electrical items like televisions are being left.
“Please, please keep anything of value either on your person if you are going out or hidden and out of sight so that if someone manages to get into your house it would take them a long time to find.
“Please be vigilant, look after others living near to you, and report anything to us as soon as you can on 101. We take every report seriously and are grateful for all information we receive because it could give us that one key thing we need to identify the people responsible.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.