Rise in Crimes in Southfield Ward


Police say ‘priority crimes’ increased last month

Police have received continuing reports of crimes around the Chiswick/Acton borders similar to those described in ChiswickW4.com last week.

Liberal Democrat councillor Gary Malcolm said that councillors in the Southfield ward had received information from the police team this month that they had a lot more “priority crimes than usual”. This included burglary, robbery and theft from motor vehicles.

Councillor Gary Malcolm said: “The police have said that many of the victims within the ward are leaving items on show and telltale signs of property within the vehicle. Also in the cases of the burglary, windows and doors are being left open.”

Last week ChiswickW4.com reported that there had been a number of incidents where female drivers had car windows smashed and handbags stolen from passenger seats.

Since then another incident has been reported on Wednesday, February 22nd, where at around 20.30 pm a lone female driver had her window smashed and bag stolen by a man who then jumped into a accomplice's car and drove off. The incident happened next to Southfield school.
Another local reported a handbag was taken from a scout hut on Rugby Road over a week ago.

Councillor Malcolm added; “It may sound obvious but it is always safer to remove items from your cars and avoid leaving items such as laptops on show through windows. Sometimes criminals spot valuable items and pass this information on to fellow criminals who then break into properties when people are commonly out.”

February 24, 2012