Thank you so much for all the lovely messages and support for the pride flags. We just wanted to bring some inclusive colour to the town for the summer and it looked lovely until a couple of very un-community-spirited people decided to spoil it for everyone by ripping them down. Shame on them, but despite these very few small-minded individuals, Oxted should be incredibly proud of its inclusive community. We are trying to repair the damage and get them back up ASAP.
The vandalism has been reported by several businesses, and while we are pretty sure the culprits have been identified, if you have any CCTV from Sunday 18th June around 2.45-3AM (ie Saturday night), we and the police would be very interested to see it, to add to the CCTV we already have. Vandalism and hate crimes should not be tolerated anywhere, for any reason.
SURREY POLICE *NEW* SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY PORTAL
We know that there is a lot of unhappiness with regards to the lack of attendance of Police on our high streets and we are currently engaging with our Surrey County Councillor and Surrey Police about this.
We are also awaiting more news from Oxted PC/SCC about the Oxted CCTV project.
However, in the meantime, Surrey Police has introduced a new website portal that enables members of the public (and small businesses) to upload home CCTV, smart doorbell, or dashcam footage to us, which shows someone acting suspiciously.
As the eyes and ears of our community, you are invited to submit this footage as they could be connected to thefts and burglaries in the area. The portal is for circumstances where no crime has been reported, but the suspicious behaviour could potentially be related to shopliftting, a burglary, theft of a vehicle, or catalytic converter, for example.
There is a different unique link we provide to victims and witnesses when a burglary has occurred.
We understand that sometimes this type of footage might get uploaded to the Shop Alert group etc, but sending the footage to Surrey Police is a secure way to help them to identify offenders operating in the area and will potentially link individuals to offences which have occurred.
Although realistically we may not be able to identify every person in a piece of footage, especially if they have a face covering, every clip feeds into our understanding of the bigger burglary picture in your area. In the long-term we hope that this initiative will help us reduce the number of burglary offences and provide reassurance to residents.
How to share your footage:
To share your footage, you will need to select Tandridge Borough from the list on Surrey Police website link below. Once you have selected the relevant Borough you will be redirected to a ‘NICE Investigate page’. There are some boxes you are required to complete, including your name, what you think the footage shows, the location of the incident, and at the bottom you can then upload your files. The website works from a desktop or mobile.
To find out more about the portal and submit your footage visit this link: https://surrey.police.uk/suspiciousactivityportal.
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