Rochdale police column: Recent burglary offences and how to prevent them

Inspector Robert MacGregor, of the Rochdale East Neighbourhood Policing Team, on what the police are doing to tackle local issues across the borough.

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This week we were authorised to charge Daniel White with GBH, ABH and five thefts of vehicles. This was a real success and down to some really good investigative work, but almost immediately afterwards, we were then hit by an awful night of burglaries in the early hours of Friday 3 May with three offences occurring in Milnrow and Newhey, one in Wardle, two in Castleton, and five in Kingsway.

I thought that it might be useful to go through some of the issues we have found with recent offences, and how we are working in the local neighbourhood policing team to try and stop people from being victims.

The recurring theme with the burglary offences has been that entry has been gained to a property, but then nothing was stolen. This has meant that the offenders are likely to be responsible for all of the separate offences, each time smashing a window or kicking in a door, and then fleeing with nothing either due to being disturbed or because they were looking for something specific.

I would describe that kind of offending as ‘chaotic and inept’ and I am sorry for all those who have had their home violated in this series of offences. It will be of little consolation to those people subject to the burglaries, but we do have some promising early lines of enquiry which we are following up to identify the offenders.

People being made victims of crime on the area I cover as Neighbourhood Inspector is always something I feel personally. I have always felt a strong personal responsibility to try and keep the community safe, and it is not the statistics that matter to me as much as the people whose lives have been damaged by it.

An elderly person subject to burglary is 2.4 times more likely to be in a care home, or have died two years after their burglary, than an identical person who has not been subject to crime. Arresting and charging offenders does not remove the harm that offences cause to that victim; it is not the solution in itself. We have to take a problem-solving approach and put prevention at the heart of what we do.

We concentrate the efforts we make on the three factors which must be present for crime to occur: a likely offender, a suitable target and absence of a capable guardian.

‘A likely offender’

 We arrest suspects and gather evidence to convict, but we also attend strategy meetings to discuss young people who are at risk, we fund diversionary activity to encourage young people to take part in positive activities, we give talks at schools, and we use restorative justice to try and change the path that young people are going down.

Neighbourhood Police Officers attend the locality meetings in the Pennine area to discuss and solve issues with partners, and we also participate in the public service reform meeting in Kirkholt, which talks about families and individuals in need of support to reduce the potential for them to commit crime or be victims of crime. 

At the moment we are trying to encourage people in the community to contact us for funding for community schemes. There is criteria which applies but we can provide this if you email RochdaleEast@gmp.pnn.police.uk with a rough outline of your group.

‘A suitable target’

The theft of vehicle offences we have seen recently have repeatedly been vehicles left insecure with the keys in the ignition. This may be due to the vehicle being a delivery vehicle, or someone running in to a shop quickly – we have seen both of these more than once – but they are also due to forgetfulness. The same issue applies with vehicles being left insecure on driveways; again, the offences we are repeatedly seeing are vehicles not locked. I suspect that the true number of vehicles being stolen with keys left in the ignition is higher than the crime figures suggest because clearly people’s insurance will be invalidated if they admit to having left their keys in the ignition.

The seemingly inexplicable theft of vehicles when victims say that they have not left their keys in the car has led to fear of criminals using devices to capture electronic key signals. These devices do exist, but they are rare. The truth is simpler and can be addressed – you need to remember to remove your keys from your vehicle and make sure you have locked your car.

I have discussed with a Neighbourhood Sergeant an idea of asking officers to check car doors down residential streets overnight where we have had offences previously, and then knocking on the doors of residents who have not locked their cars. This would no doubt be annoying, but leaving your car insecure makes your entire street more attractive as a target for thieves and puts your neighbours at greater risk of crime.

‘The absence of a capable guardian’

We patrol crime hot spots, but crime prevention relies on other ‘guardians’ in the community being present to deter would-be criminals. Years ago, this would be bus conductors, park wardens, and other authority figures, but many of these guardians no longer exist. The Street Watch scheme being piloted in Milnrow and Newhey is an attempt to increase local guardianship and I am keen to introduce the scheme in other parts of Rochdale in the future. A neighbourhood that knows and cares for each other, and who watch out for one another is the single most effective way of reducing crime.

When police are called to an incident, whether it is a burglary, robbery, assault, missing person, or anything else – it is likely to represent a failure of the entire system to prevent that issue from reaching crisis point. Police officers, teachers, social workers, GPs, mental health workers, drug and alcohol workers, religious leaders, and parents may have all been involved in that individual’s life. However, at the point the incident is reported, we have failed to take effective action to prevent it reaching crisis.

My responsibility is to prevent people from being the victims of crime. We do this alongside partner agencies, and the community and we all have a role to play in stopping these issues reaching crisis point with the police receiving a 999 call.

I have mentioned already that we have a Street Watch scheme asking for volunteers, and funding available for groups and initiatives that benefit the wider community.

I always remember that figure – a victim of burglary is 2.4 times more likely to be in care or to die in the next two years – whatever we can do as a community to prevent people from being victims will have an effect on that stark statistic.

Thank you for your support.