News 19 February to 25 February
 Two arrests by armed officers after robbery
Two 18-year-old men were arrested after a robbery in Colchester when armed officers were able to track them on a train leaving the city.
We were alerted to a teenage boy being threatened with a weapon by two people in Castle Park, shortly after 6pm on Sunday 23 February.
Thankfully, the boy was not hurt but he was forced to hand over an item of jewellery.
As a result of the report, local officers and armed officers were alerted to the incident and quick enquiries were carried out.
Two people of interest were then seen near to Colchester North train station. They then boarded a London-bound train.
Man charged with stalking order breach
A man has been charged with breaching a stalking protection order.
Our Domestic Abuse Problem Solving Team (DAPST) arrested a man on suspicion of the breach of a court order on Thursday 20 February as part of proactive compliance checks.
Now, 27-year-old Kieran Hibble, of Rawlins Crescent in Colchester, has been charged with three counts of breaching a stalking order.
He was remanded in custody and appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court this morning, Friday 21 February.
He will next appear at Ipswich Crown Court on 21 March 2025 and was remanded in custody until then
Visit to Colchester 9th Cub and Scout group
This week PC Knights and PC Bishop visited the 9th Colchester Cubs Scout Group to engage with the children and teach them a little bit about being safe when outside and some stranger danger activities.
The cubs got to look at various police equipment and go inside the police van. The officers joined in with a game of wink murder, however found themselves victims of a wink murder in the very first round.
The cub group had lots of questions which the officers listened to and answered.
The cub group had recently witnessed an incident nearby and our visit was to help rebuild the feeling of safety within the group and also build trust and relationships with the officers attending.
 How the police helicopter helps us to keep you safe
Did you know we have a police air capability in Essex?
The National Police Air Service assists our officers on the ground to help people, keep you safe and catch criminals.
One of the service’s helicopters is based at North Weald.
It’s called out when our officers need air support to search for missing people, track stolen vehicles during a police pursuit or track suspects, such as hare coursers.
The flight crew also provides overhead observation at major incidents, which gives vital situational awareness to operational commanders at the scene.
 Let's talk
Upcoming community police events
Thursday 27 February
10:30am to 11:30am Zest cafe, University of Essex
Sunday 2 March
10am to 11am Fingeringhoe Village Hall, Colchester
2pm-3pm Lexden, CO3 4DA
Monday 3 March
10am-11am - Salcott cum Virley village Hall
Wednesday 5 March
11am-12:30pm - Firstsite, Colchester
 Crime prevention advice
It might feel like your house is more secure behind a high wall or fence but the fact it can’t be seen from the street could make it a more tempting target.
Make sure your property can be easily seen by your neighbours and the public by ensuring hedges, fences and walls at the front are no higher than one metre. That way, you’re not giving an intruder anywhere to hide.
Clever use of lighting can also help to keep burglars at bay. We recommend dusk-till-dawn, low-level white lighting, especially in vulnerable, low visibility areas such as the side or the rear of the property.
Lights should be a minimum of three metres above ground with vandal-resistant casings.
Be fraud smart
A virtual office is an address registered by a person or business instead of their real address. They may never actually visit the address and can have all mail to the virtual address redirected.
You may think you’re dealing with a well-established, professional individual or business because of a prestigious (yet virtual) office address. However, the reality can be very different.
Most businesses using virtual offices are honest and legitimate, but scammers often use a virtual office address instead of their own home or business address to hide their true identity. Often scammers use false ID to get the virtual office.
If you see a website that has an address on it, it could be a virtual office address and the company doesn’t operate from it.
Victims of scams have been known to go to these addresses to get money back or claim prizes in person, only to find they’re virtual offices.
 Question
Can you tell me about sexting?
Answer
Sexting is the sending of sexually explicit messages and pictures via mobile phones. By way of example, sexting may involve the consensual sharing of an image between two adults or two similar aged children in a relationship, to instances of children being exploited, groomed, and bullied into sharing images, which in turn may be shared with peers or adults without their consent.
The law
It is an offence to possess/send/make/take/distribute/show indecent photos of children (person under the age of 18). That means that the child who takes the photo commits an offence as does any person who it gets sent to. This is the case regardless of whether they forward it on to other people and also applies to anyone who simply shows the image to other people.
However, the position of the National Police Chief's Council (NPCC) and the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) with regards to the consensual sharing of an image between two children of a similar age in a relationship is that 'prosecution options are avoided, in particular the use of legislation that would attract sex offender registration'.
It is advised that the wider safeguarding issues are looked at rather than the criminal justice element. Placing a child on the sex offenders register could cause serious damage to their future.
The images
Once an image is on the internet, it is potentially there forever. Even if the child sending the image had no intention for it to end up on there in many cases they do and this can be potentially very harmful to a child now and in the future. Many of the images end up in chat rooms used by paedophiles and sexual predators, even those that were not taken as a result of child exploitation or grooming.
Sexual exploitation
Paedophiles may try to frighten their victims into sending further indecent images of themselves by saying that unless the child continues, it will be reported to the police and the child will be arrested and face prosecution. Safeguarding the victim should be at the centre of any police involvement in not only these types of incidents but also non exploitation scenarios.
If you or anyone you know are being sexually exploited then contact your local police by dialling 101 or 999 in an emergency. Police forces have specially trained officers to deal with these types of incidents.
Additionally, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is the UK internet Hotline for anyone to report online child sexual abuse imagery and non-photographic child sexual abuse images anonymously.
IWF works internationally to make the internet safer. They help victims of child sexual abuse worldwide by identifying and removing online images and videos of their abuse.
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