False mobile theft allegations become criminal offence

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Christina Varveri

Police in Doncaster stops false mobile allegations

Doncaster Police have said that people should not make false allegations of mobile phone thefts, as it will be dealt as a criminal offence.

It has been reported that several people have registered their mobile phone as stolen, so that their insurance company can send a replacement phone to them. They, afterwards, sell the mobile to recycling companies and second hand dealers.

‘This is a waste of police time and a fraudulent offence and will be dealt with as such’, said Sergeant Jez Fitzgibbons from the Crime Management Team.

Fines, for this type of offence, start from a minimum of £80, but those caught could also face imprisonment.

Officers, from the Crime Management Team, will be carefully monitoring all reports of stolen mobile phones. They are also closely working with mobile phone companies and insurance providers to ensure that this type of criminal activity does not continue, according to Sergeant Jez Fitzgibbons.

Soaring scrap prices lure metal thieves

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Audre Biciunaite

Crime has dropped by nine per cent in South Yorkshire last year, including significant reductions in violent crime and vehicle crime but soaring commodity prices attracted more metal thieves, police revealed.

Compared with the previous financial year, the total number of theft and handling stolen goods offences grew eight per cent in April 2010 to March 2011, to over 27,300.

Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said: “The increase in theft offences is attributed to a significant rise in metal thefts.

“There has been an increase in the price of metal, making it a more valuable commodity to would-be thieves.”

Stealing wheelchairs

Police are warning the public to look out for metal thieves who are currently on the hunt for easy money saying they will steal everything from patio furniture and outside taps to lead from church roofs and even wheelchairs.

“This crime directly affects the lives of people across the county; for example, the theft of communications cables, lead from house roofs, manhole covers from the streets,” Chief Constable Hughes said.

Carol Watson, 53, from Barnsley is among those who were distressed by someone stealing a piece of telecommunications cable.

“It was a real nuisance, because I was expecting a call and one time I was separated from my husband in the town centre,” she said.

Police carry out operations targeting scrap metal dealers and reminding them of their responsibilities.

“We’ve also been working with British Transport Police, utility companies and other regional forces to tackle the issue of metal thefts and work will continue while this problem exists,” Chief Constable Hughes said.

Prices doubled

According to the domestic recycling industry, UK scrap prices of most metals have more than doubled in the past two years, both of ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

The average price of steel scrap, for example, grew 2.5 times, from £65 per tonne in March 2009, to £170 per tonne in March 2011.

Prices of zinc scrap increased by 2.6 times to £650 per tonne, and that of aluminium cuttings grew 2.3 times to £1,075 per tonne.

Stealing insulated copper cable was one of the most profitable areas for metal thieves, as a tonne of such cable sold for £1,400 in March 2011, or twice as much as in 2009.

Total crime dropped

Overall crime in South Yorkshire is at its lowest level for nearly 40 years. The total number of offences recorded in this last financial year was by over 10,000 lower than a year ago, below 103,000, police announced.

Knife crime was down by 15% to 485 offences, the number of robberies dropped 14% to 871 and sexual offences went down by 3% to 906 crimes.

Total vehicle crime, including car theft and theft from motor vehicles, has fallen by 18%, to 13,381.

The force also recorded 30% fewer fraud and forgery offences, a 17% reduction in criminal damage offences and 6% drop in drug offences.

“Crime has significantly fallen for the fourth year in a row,” Chief Constable Hughes said.

“This is great news for South Yorkshire and testament to the hard work of the men and women of the county’s force.”

Woman dies after reservoir fall

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Emma McHale

The Agden Reservoir. Picture via geograph.org.uk

A woman has died after she fell in to a reservoir in Sheffield.

South Yorkshire Police said the 88-year-old woman is believed to have fallen down a hill into the water of Agden Reservoir near Low Bradfield at 1pm yesterday.

The woman was rescued by a friend in her 60s but was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

A police spokeswoman said the woman’s friend was taken to the Northern General Hospital and treated for hypothermia, but was released last night.

The women were believed to be walking when the older woman slipped down a hill and fell.

A police spokeswoman described her death as a”tragic accident”.

Is 2011 the year of the criminal?

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Tom Hegarty

Crime is on the rise in Sheffield, as the cuts of the coalition government

Sheffield Police face massive cuts

begin to bite. In the busy S1 city centre area during December 2010 there were a total of 1190 crimes reported to the police, with 95 of them violent. Next month in January 2011, these figures rose to 1215 and 109. And in South Yorkshire Police’s most recent figures, February 2011 saw a total of 1482 crimes reported with 132 of them violent.

Discussing the cuts, South Yorkshire Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said “The Government has announced changes to the benefits system. This may well put pressure on some individuals to consider committing acquisitive crime in order to mitigate the impact of reductions in their income.” This would certainly explain the spike in Sheffield’s crime figures over the past few months, and indicates that it could well be set to continue.
Police spending is set to be cut by 20% nationally, as part of the government’s ongoing “austerity” campaign. This could result in the loss of 1100 officers currently patrolling the streets today. Mr Hughes delivered a stark warning that cuts of the scale proposed would affect all areas of the police, frontline as well as support staff.

Mixed Responses

Local residents gave mixed responses to the forthcoming police downsizing. Michael Andrews, 63, retired postman from Hunters Bar put his take on the police cuts bluntly: “You can’t reduce the police and not have a negative effect on society.”
Meanwhile, 4th year Sheffield University student Jessica Gascon, 19, said “I’m not sure exactly where’s the worst for crime in Sheffield, Broomhall maybe? I think the police waste a lot of time though, maybe a few cuts here and there wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

Victims of Violence

Cabbie, Amar Hussein, 31, said “The worst area for crime is Pittsmoor, or Burngreave and after that, maybe Hillsborough or the Manor. I do think the cuts will have a negative impact on society because with petty crime, police won’t be able to respond as fast. They’ll only be able to pay attention to the most serious crimes – stabbings, or violent disorder or something.”
Amar’s been the victim of violence himself: “I’ve had abusive language directed at me, violent situations too. It’s happened a few times. There’s a lot of violence at night, at the weekends particularly. And that’s when we’ll miss our police the most.”

Burngreave and Pittsmoor were frequently mentioned as the areas Sheffield residents were most scared to venture to. Both are located in the S3 postcode, which saw 1293 crimes reported to the police during February 2011, 106 of which were violent. S3 is the only postcode in the city that frequently approaches the levels of crime in the city centre and is notorious for gang crime and violence.

Inevitable?

Police walking the beat, a thing of the past?

Barnsley resident Jillian Anderson, 39, who works in Sheffield said that the cuts could be seen as inevitable by many, including herself, but expressed anger at the existing police force as well: “I’m very angry about some of the policing that’s taken place locally recently. The policing of the “Lib Dem” conference was positively dangerous. The steel ring and barricades were very intimidating. That isn’t the sort of city I want to be in, and that’s not the sort of behaviour I want from our police.”

Janet Foster, 44, a native Sheffielder who’s just returned from four years in Spain, said “I think it’s diabolical. Just diabolical. Even though I’ve been away from Sheffield I keep up with the news via the internet and you can see the crime rates going up and up all the time. Particularly in the city centre where people need to feel safe, and I certainly wouldn’t feel safe in the city centre at night anymore by myself.”

In the wake of the £2 million spent by South Yorkshire police in providing security for the Liberal Democrats conference, from the 11th to the 13th of March this year, Janet also said:
“I think the Lib Dems or any political party really should have to pay for their own security. I think it should come out of their funds, not the city that’s hosting it.”

Waiter Marco Faletti, 45, said offered a little historical context to the debate: “I don’t think there’s ever been a particularly strong police presence in Sheffield. I think if cuts have got to be made they’ve got to be made in every sector really. All the areas in Sheffield have their own problems. A lot of trouble is put down to young people. The problems with a lack of respect for things that some kids have are not gonna be stopped by more police on the street. It needs to come in schools and families instead.”

Interviews of Sheffield citizens on crime and police cuts

Sheffield police chief slams cuts

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Carri-Ann Taylor

Cuts could reduce front line services

South Yorkshire’s top police chief has warned that government cuts will have a catastrophic effect on policing in Sheffield.

Chief Constable Med Hughes predicts that crime will increase as people lose their jobs, council services are slashed and the courts are forced to allow criminals to remain on the streets.

Meanwhile South Yorkshire police will be forced to shed 1,100 jobs.

In the report addressed to South Yorkshire Police Authority Mr Hughes says “undoubtedly every area of the force will be affected” and challenges government claims that 999 emergency response and neighbourhood policing will remain unaffected.

He also warns that cuts in back office staff will mean fewer bobbies on the beat as frontline officers are brought in to do paperwork.

Officers from neighbouring authorities may also need to be drafted in to deal with serious incidents.

Funding will be cut by 20 per cent in real terms over the next four years.

Mr Hughes said: “Cuts in spending on youth services is likely to result in fewer opportunities for young people to spend time off the streets in a productive manner and may well lead to further calls from the public and crime.

“We anticipate an increase in unemployment. This will bring with it additional pressures on some individuals to commit crime in order to continue to enjoy the same or a similar standard of living.

“There is to be a reduction in the number of prison places and this may result in some prolific offenders living within our communities as opposed to spending time in prison.

“At the same time we will see an increase in community sentences with the reduced Probation Service struggling to cope with additional demand.”

A Home Office spokesman told the Sheffield Star: “We believe police forces can make the necessary savings while protecting frontline services and prioritising the visibility and availability or policing.”

Armed police surround University building

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Hanne Poulsen

By Arya Yuyutsu, Hanne Poulsen, Mike Taylor and Adam Shergold.

Armed police surrounded a university building in Sheffield city centre today in a major operation that also involved the force’s helicopter and dog handlers.

Officers surrounded St George’s, a redundant church that is now used as a lecture theatre and student accommodation by the University of Sheffield.

Officers at the scene said they were in pursuit of a suspect who had taken refuge in the former church.

A crowd of onlookers gathered as officers carrying automatic weapons took up position around the building and the South Yorkshire Police helicopter hovered overhead.

Matthew Good, a student who witnessed the event informed reporters that a bald, white man, shabbily dressed and wearing jeans, entered the building during class. He was shortly followed by a number of police who instructed the tutor to continue with the lecture while they searched for the fugitive.

The building was later cleared and students were allowed back into the lecture theatre.

People working in the area said the police helicopter had been in operation from late morning.

St George’s is situated in Portobello Street to the west of the city centre in the middle of the busy University district.

Thousands of students live and work in the area.

A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said later in a statement: “South Yorkshire Police officers were searching for a man who was suspected for an alleged assault committed earlier today. It is believed the man was seen in the city centre and officers believed he was in a building on Broad Lane. However, the search proved negative and enquiries are ongoing. No roads were closed in the area.”

Body found on Page Hall Road in Fir Vale

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Hanne Poulsen

By Hanne Poulsen, Wei Yan and Ruth Etherington

A body of a young man has been found in the Fir Vale area near Burngreave, Sheffield, early this morning.

Emergency services and police were called to the junction of Page Hall Road and Hinde House Lane and cordoned off the area at 5:30am this morning, March 28th.

The police are not able to disclose more information at this time.

The street was still closed as the South Yorkshire Police detectives are currently conducting investigations into the circumstances of the death.

The street’s residents had to be escorted by the police from their house to the cordon when entering or exiting the area.

Witnesses, in the highly ethnic neighbourhood, said they suspected the victim had been shot and that the crime was drug-related, but the police did not want to comment on these allegations.

Anyone with information is urged to call the police on 0114 2202020 quoting incident number 119 of the 28 March.