Witney News - Witney Neighbourhood Team monthly update – Jan

Witney Neighbourhood Team monthly update – Jan

PC Pam Delahay provides the first update for 2007: "Happy New Year to all. December was a fairly quiet month for the team due to abstractions, some sickness and the festive leave period, but the team still managed to arrange and take part in a couple of operations across the area.

"One of the Witney NAG priorities is under-age drinking and the team have been able to do some more work on this front. The team, with the help of some young volunteers, took part in a test purchase operation on the 8 December across the West Oxfordshire area. Visits were made to six premises within West Oxfordshire and four separate alcohol purchases were made, two of these were in the Witney Nag area. This has led to the issue of three £80 fines and one other premise which will be subject to further investigation.

"The team also took part in an ANPR operation in the middle of December. ANPR stands for Automatic Number Plate Recognition. It is basically a system which, using a camera, reads car number plates as they pass, then checks them through a system against the Police National Computer. So, for example if a stolen car were to pass, the computer would show this and officers would be in a position to stop it and deal with the situation. The use of ANPR in the past has led to arrests for numerous offences across the Force including murder. So, if you see officers standing at the side of the road with a camera they may not be doing a speed check as I know some residents thought last month, but are in fact using the ANPR.

"The recruitment drive for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Thames Valley is still ongoing. So, if you are interested in this career opportunity or know a man or woman that is then either look on the website: www.rewardingrole.co.uk, contact the team either by phone/email or even pop along to either of the two recruitment events taking place this month. They both run from 10am to 7pm.

Wednesday 16th January - Oxford Spires Four Pillars Hotel, Abingdon Road, Oxford

Wednesday 24th January - Banbury House Hotel, Banbury