Police update from Merton's police chief: Burglaries and thefts from cars increase this week - help prevent them

Friday's police update from our borough commander, Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Williams.

Dear all,

Another week passes by at Merton, another week closer to the tennis and another week closer to the Olympics.

As you can imagine we are all making our final plans for both events - the weather giving us some food for thought at the moment.

Those that follow us on twitter will be aware that we have had a bit of an increase in burglary this week - property stolen included laptops, jewellery, cash, passports and cars.

I know I keep on about it but many burglaries are preventable by simple crime prevention measures. Window locks, extra door security and of course burglar alarms will all help you secure your home and reduce your chances of becoming a victim.  For more comprehensive advice see www.met.police.uk/crimeprevention/burglary

In a similar way we are still experiencing a rise in motor vehicle crime, specifically thefts from vehicles. Satnavs both from windscreens and from glove boxes are both things that could have been prevented if they weren't obvious within the car.

Good news is that we are continuing to reduce overall crime and anti social behaviour across the Borough. We are having particular success with serious youth violence and knife crime that were a concern last year, crime is reducing continually and we will continue to drive this down even more.

I had a really good meeting with community members Maggy and Ali at the Gooseberry Bush Café this week where we discussed ideas to improve our communications with everyone and I think I have agreed to a coffee morning once a month at different locations across the Borough.  I will let you know where they are as soon as possible.

Thank you for your support this week, have a good weekend and I will write again next Friday

Darren