Wokingham Borough Connect
 Keep Safe online campaign for February
Involve Community Services and Wokingham’s Community Safety Partnership will launch the Keep Safe in Wokingham campaign, a series of engaging webinars throughout February which raises awareness and promotes safety for borough residents.
Keep Safe in Wokingham will bring together voluntary sector groups, local government professionals, schools and other key stakeholders to collaborate, learn and share resources for keeping our community safe - both online and in the real world.
The webinars are free to attend and each session is targeted for different audiences including parents and carers, local practitioners, with some open to people of all ages.
Online safety for parents and carers
Monday 10 February, 10am to 11am
Wednesday 12 February, 1.30pm to 2.30pm
Thursday 13 February, 6pm to 7pm
Hosted by Cyber Choices, a national programme designed to reduce cyber crime. These webinars are for parents and carers to help them understand their family’s on-line behaviour and use of internet connected devices
Cyber protection for individuals
Tuesday 11 February, 4.15pm to 6.15pm: In this webinar, Jez Rogers, Cyber Security Advisor at the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), will talk about ways to be more cyber safe at home, including:
Plus:
Monday 24 February at 6pm to 6.45pm – Avoiding hacking and scams
Tuesday 25 February at 4.30pm to 5.15pm – Child exploitation awareness
Wednesday 26 February at 2pm to 3pm - Digital mental health support for young people
Wednesday 26 February at 4.30pm - Knife crime awareness for parents and carers - run by The Ben Kinsella Trust
 Helping young people to make positive choices.
As a first step in an ambitious project to help our young people make positive choices when faced with challenging situations officers from Thames Valley Police and members of the Community Safety Team attended Wokingham Fire Station to undergo their training for our ‘Virtual Choices’ initiative. The project, which it is planned will go live in September 2025, comprises of education awareness packages using virtual reality headsets around areas of concern such as weapon crime, County Drug Lines, underage drinking and Violence Against Women and Girls. Those trained will deliver the interactive sessions within local schools and children's homes as part of our prevention and intervention work with our young people.
We will be using the headsets at our Positive Choices event for year 7 pupils later this month, look out for a report on this event in our next newsletter.
 Spotting the signs of financial abuse.
Our population is ageing and unfortunately this means that more elderly people are vulnerable to financial abuse, this can be from family, friends or carers as well as complete strangers. Only last week neighbourhood policing colleagues attended a welfare check in Twyford following reports that an elderly individual may be being financially taken advantage of. Thanks to this being reported they have raised this concern further and arranged for the necessary interventions to support this resident.
Some of the signs to look for if you suspect any form of financial abuse are:
- Isolation from friends and family, leaving one person in control of their life.
- Missing funds or valuables, like jewellery, art, or other personal items.
- The giving of large gifts or loans that might put their financial security at risk.
- Sudden, unexpected changes to a will that favours a new friend or one specific person.
- Small amounts of cash disappearing.
- Decline in living conditions, lack of essentials like heating, food or clothing.
- The person managing finances is unhelpful or secretive.
Hourglass is our specialist service providing support to people over 60 in the borough. You can contact them on their 24/7 helpline 080 8808 8141 or find more information on their website.
You can also make a referral to Adult Social Care see Safety and reporting abuse
If you think a crime may have been committed, or a person is at imminent risk of harm call 999.
 Update from your neighbourhood policing team.
It was another busy week for our Wokingham North neighbourhood policing team who cover Earley, Woodley, Winnersh and Twyford. As well as their regular duties officers undertook the following additional activities.
Visited Wargrave Pre-School and Little Acorns in Twyford taking along a police car for all the children to explore. They were shown all the different types of lights on the car and found out what each light is used for. There was then time for a reading from the PC Ben book, which explains what PC Ben does on a shift, looking after his community. After giving them stickers for listening so well, the children got to try on some Police uniform and get creative with some colouring in! This is a way of teaching the children about what a Police Officer does and what they wear which they were very excited about.
Held a 'Have Your Say' at Maiden Place, Lower Earley which provided an ideal engagement opportunity to hear from residents, the good and of course the areas that need more attention. The Earley Neighbourhood Action Group meeting was another engagement opportunity to hear what matters to the local residents and officiers took away lots information and ideas to work on.
Conducted a number of visits to various retailers as police continue to roll out a simpler way to report retail theft. This is proving successful and giving retailers the chance to communicate with each other directly about any known risks.
Obtained and implemented a 'Closure Order' on a property in Lower Earley. This Closure Order restricts access to the property to authorised persons only, as a way of dealing with an unacceptable level of Anti-Social Behaviour and safeguarding the residents.
If you would like to invite your local police team to visit your event or school please contact them via email.
 The return of 'Flockdown'
As a result of a rising number of cases there is a new Avian Influenza Prevention Zone to cover the whole of England as of noon on Saturday 25 January.
Avian influenza (or bird flu) is a disease of birds which presents a significant threat to our poultry industry, kept bird populations and wild birds. The risk to humans remains low with chicken and eggs safe to eat if cooked properly.
All bird keepers (whether the birds are pets, backyard flocks or a commercial flock) should follow this guidance to prevent bird flu and stop it spreading: Bird flu (avian influenza): how to prevent it and stop it spreading - GOV.UK
Bird keepers are reminded that they must register within one month of keeping poultry or other captive birds at any premises. You’re breaking the law if you don’t register.
Register as a keeper of:
Anyone coming across dead birds can find out more information about reporting it here: Report dead wild birds - GOV.UK Above all if you find a dead bird do not touch it.
To prevent exposure, do not touch or handle wild birds or their droppings. Keep your distance from wild birds as much as possible. If you decide that you need to handle a wild bird, there are some steps which you can follow to reduce the risks.
|
