The Crime Prevention Website

The Metropolitan Police in Havering (East side of London) have recently issued a timely reminder about the need for secondary school children to take care when walking to and from school.

This is their news release:

Every year when the children return to school in September, Police see an increase in street robbery. While the start of secondary school is an exciting and even anxious time for our youngsters, to thieves, it can be a time of ‘easy pickings.’

Please make sure that your child doesn’t have expensive items with them as they make their way to and from school. Try to encourage them to walk home in a group where possible and not to ‘advertise’ their valuables to others.

Being responsible for themselves during their journey can be daunting enough, but the emotional cost of being robbed during this formative time would far outweigh the financial loss. 

While patrolling the borough officers see lots of youngsters surfing the net while walking along the street, some are so engrossed in checking their social networking account or news feed that they are totally unaware of their surroundings. Without realising it, they are not only putting their phone on display, but are also increasing their risk of being involved in a road accident.

At this time each year extra patrols on school routes are conducted by Schools Police Officers, Safer Transport Police and Parks Policing Teams. School based Police Officers will be making sure that pupils are reminded regularly about the dangers of walking while texting/surfing and of street robbery, but this message also needs to be reinforced at home. 

Mobile phones can easily be registered at Immobilise.com; this makes a record of the phone’s IMEI number and enables Police to check the ownership of handsets when searching suspects. If you are unlucky enough to have a phone stolen, it will also make it easier for you to block the use of the handset and report the theft.

Please don’t delay in doing this for your handsets.

Police understand that youngsters are proud of their phones and sometimes want to show them off. Please make sure that your youngsters are aware that they need to be sensible about where they put their valuables on display. 

Only a very small minority of people commit robbery. Please help us to ensure that your child’s transition to secondary school is not spoilt by one of these unscrupulous individuals.

For more information on crime prevention please contact your Safer Neighbourhoods Team or visit the ‘Advice’ section of this web site.

TCPW Comment:  This advice is the same for all young people no matter where in the UK they might be.  There’s further information on this website concerning mobile phones and being out and about and frankly it applies to all of us, but as all our schools begin the new term next week now is the time for young people and their parents to review their personal security arrangements.

A chat about it during a mealtime seems to make a lot of sense to me.

Mobile phones: http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/property-identification--marking-tagging-and-tracking/597/mobile-phones/

Out and about: http://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/students/664/practising-safe-steps/ Written for college and university students, but much of the advice is equally useful for younger people.

Havering Police news source: http://content.met.police.uk/Borough/Havering

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