Thames Valley Police

Police reminder to please keep homes locked and secure

I have been advised by our local police of a number of incidents in South Oxfordshire in recent weeks whereby “persons unknown” have been trying front and back doors to see whether locked or unlocked with a view to making unlawful entry – burglary is the obvious intention. The experience of an owner who is at home with the door unlocked being confronted by a complete stranger on the front door-mat is obviously somewhat unnerving to say the least.

One such incident arose in Dorchester at around 10pm a few nights ago, and the police are urging all residents to ensure that their properties are locked and secure, not only when absent but generally.

Richard Winslet
Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator for Dorchester

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Neighbourhood watch – Making our community safer

It has been brought to our attention that we didn’t have any information on the neighbourhood watch scheme running in the village.  Therefore we have created a new neighbourhood watch page where you can go to and post relevant concerns you might have, and may also list recent articles.

Below is also an introduction to the neighbourhood watch


Neighbourhood Watch is a national association run in cooperation with the Police. It was formed in the early 1980’s and has existed in the village for much of that time. It has a simple aim – To Make Communities Safer.

The village scheme currently comprises in excess of 20 individual schemes, each headed by a coordinator responsible for circulating relevant information to those households within each scheme. They cover the length and breadth of the village, although there are inevitable gaps – in some cases entire streets; in others, just parts of the longer ones. Approximately 60% of the village is currently covered.

Neighbourhood Watch operates at a number of levels:

  • In conjunction with the Thames Valley Police unit at Abingdon, from where messages are sent by email or telephone to our coordinators, are reviewed for relevance to our village, and then forwarded to households.

  • Within individual village schemes, where local information is exchanged between households, i.e. simple neighbourliness.

  • Across the village, where something arising in one part of the village may also be relevant to other parts of the village.

It is possible to access “Thames Valley Alerts” direct from source (i.e. without necessarily having to be a member of one of the village schemes) by logging onto the Thames Valley Alert website www.thamesvalleyalert.co.uk , taking the “Join” option and then working through the simple registration process.

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