DREAM HILLS – VECINOS COLABORANDO (NHW)
Meeting held at La Casita on Thursday 01 June 2006, at 18.00 hrs.
Present:
Chairperson - Jan Rennison
Main Co-ordinators - Gerald & Denise Mills
Secretary - Kath Allen
Street Co-ordinators - Irene Arch, Tony Chapman, Roger Ingram, Doug Hunt.
Residents - J. & R. McAlpine, P. & B. Hemming, C. Dalgeth, A. Rizzuto
Apologies: Colin Bingham
Jan opened the meeting and thanked everyone for attending. Minutes of previous meeting agreed. Jan had received no reports since the last meeting.
Denise received 4 reports since 5 May. Registration numbers of cars are available from your co-ordinator.
| Attempted house break-in |
9 May at 22.00hrs. Occupants (on holiday) left grill open. Break-in attempted via front door. Moroccan looking male (possibly local building worker?) scared off. |
| House break-in |
1 May - no written report received from 349. |
| Observations |
15 May at 12.00hrs. 3 males in dark grey Saab(?) saloon. Resident about to get into her car (her dog was in the back); approached by male speaking Spanish/English. Lady threw her bag into the back with dog. Possibility of attempted distraction robbery. |
| 30 May. 2 suspicious Moroccan looking males driving up street 5-18 Dream Hills. Drove off in white car when they realised they had been seen. |
Crime appears to be moving to other areas at the present time, possibly due to more Police presence following our request in April. Police helicopter and squad cars seen by several residents.
Reports received from Orihuela Costa area:
| Thefts on beaches Thefts from cars |
Moroccan youths attacking people relaxing on beaches and stealing property. 6 May, male sunbather on La Zenia beach robbed of property. 2 youths ran off before alarm could be raised. Reports of people returning to their vehicles after spending time on beaches, to find windows smashed and contents stolen. Don’t take any unnecessary possessions to the beach and don’t leave anything on show in vehicles. |
| Romanian Women |
6 May, group of Romanian women with 2 children, begging for money at houses in La Zenia area. Reasonably well dressed. A few weeks ago a similar (or same?) group asked people leaving Los Balcones church for money for Rumanian Charity. They had papers to supposedly support their story. A lady whom they had approached then realised her purse was missing from her pocket. It was found in a nearby bin, empty. The group had driven off in a car. |
| Purse Snatch |
10 May, Consum Supermarket, La Zenia. At 13.30hrs., dark skinned youth snatched purse following person paying at tills. |
| Bag Snatch |
15 May, San Miguel and Pinar Campoverde. Handbag stolen using considerable force on 72 year old woman. Assailant was a tall, athletic Spanish male, appx. 20yrs old. Escaped in dark blue Citröen or Ford Focus. |
| Distraction thefts |
Pinada de Campoverde and Pilar de la Horadada. 16 May, Gypsies – 3 women (2 early 40’s, 1 early 20’s) 2 men (early 20’s). Older women enter shop and cause distraction whilst accomplices cause further distraction and steal property. Women also believed to be visiting houses on pretext of collecting for charity. Vehicle – white Ford Escort with English reg.. If seen, inform Police. |
| Suspicious persons |
15 May – pm. 3 Moroccans seen entering vacant houses on Pinada Golf 1. Drove off when seen. Silver car. 28 May, 17.00hrs. La Zenia Golf 11 & La Zenia 11. 2 Spanish(?) women (1 59’s, 1 40’s) opened door of 2 occupied houses and walked in. Occupants asked what they were doing, they replied in Spanish and left. Left area with man in old red Ford Escort, |
| Suspicious car |
27 May – Las Violetas, Villa Martin. Dark blue or black BMW seen driving slowly around area where a number of crimes have taken place. |
| Possible Scam |
26 May, Los Altos. Resident woken at 5.00hrs by good looking blonde female, saying she is lost and asking resident to contact a taxi for her. House door not opened but whilst resident was looking for ‘phone number for her, she left. Advice: Do not open your door to anyone. Red Riding Hood may well be accompanied by the big, bad wolves!! |
| Stolen Car |
Ford Escort, metallic maroon with sunroof, reg. 1956 DJH with NL sticker next to rear number plate. Stolen from owners home at Pinada Golf, Villa Martin, in the early hours of 1 June 2006. If seen inform Police or co-ordinator. |
DENUNCIAS
We are advised by Chris Pool that the Guardia Civil office at the Ayuntamiento (Playa Flamenca) is now open from 09.00hrs to 13.00hrs from Monday to Friday for receiving denuncias (crime reports). For how long, we do not know!
QUARTERLY MEETING OF ORIHUELA COSTA GROUPS – 31 May 2006.
Current crime hot-spots – Los Dolses and Las Violetas, Villa Martin; V. Piedra. Also people still being targeted at airports, followed to cars and followed from airports to destinations. There are more Police and security controls at the airports but reports still coming is of bag snatches whilst people putting luggage into their hire cars, etc.. At Alicante, people were getting into their hire car and were approached by someone saying they were from the hire company and they were needed back at the office as there was a problem. They were asked to leave the keys with the supposed company representative – and they did – BEWARE!
Youths reported brandishing sticks and abusing people at Los Altos.
ABANDONED VEHICLES
Report any abandoned vehicles on the urbanization to your co-ordinator, or direct to the Police who are picking up on these at the moment. Police need registration numbers and where they are located.
NHW SIGNS
Gerald and Denise have sourced some strong, plastic NHW signs which will be placed around the urbanisation. They are similar to the stickers, but obviously stronger will not fade, as the present ones do.
In conclusion, Jan still wishes to resign from the position of Chairperson, and Kath still wishes to resign from the position of Secretary. Will someone PLEASE help us out?
ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE REMEMBER: Keep your eyes peeled, take robbers/suspicious cars registration numbers wherever possible and contact your local NHW co-ordinator as soon as possible. Also watch out for ‘robbers codes’ made outside homes. They use using stones, fruit peel, sand, earth, etc., to construct these codes, details of which are available in NHW members’ packs.
Date of next meeting: Thursday, 06 July 2006, at 18.00 hrs. at La Casita.