Hastings

From here you can find station opening times and contact details for your local neighbourhood policing team, see the latest priorities and events in your area and view the local crime levels.

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On April 17 your District Commander took part in a day of live webchats as part of our commitment to become more open and transparent - you can watch the videos and read the conversations about policing in your area on our Sussex Policing Live page.

District Commander's message: Chief Inspector Heather Keating

In my last message to you I said my top priority was to reduce crime; between January and end of March this year the slight increases in total crime have been reduced effectively seeing an overall reduction in total crime (98 fewer vehicle crimes, 42 fewer offences of damage to property and 32 fewer offences of theft).

Not all-good news I'm afraid as we are currently seeing an increase in burglary to people's homes across East Sussex. Fewer increases in Hastings - a total of 12 more than the same period last year. Thieves will take any opportunity they can to commit crime. Please make sure you follow these simple rules:

• Never leave your doors or windows unlocked if going out.
• If working in the garden please close your doors and lock them, even if some distance from the property.
• If going on holiday ask someone to keep an eye on your home and report any suspicious behaviour. Ask a friend or neighbour to move the post/pull the curtains at night if possible.
• If you are out when it gets dark make use of a timer to switch a light on. These are cheap and easy to use. Contact your local officer if any problems.

There is nothing worse than being a victim of burglary. We are targeting a number of people we think are responsible and will do all we can to arrest the offenders.

We need your help though so I ask that you report any suspicious behaviour however small. Let us check it out. You can contact us in an emergency on 999 or on our new non-emergency number 101.

Inspector Paul Phelps has recently joined our team as the Neighbourhood Policing Inspector. A very experienced Inspector, previously a Detective Inspector, responsible primarily investigating burglary so we will be tapping into his vast experience of burglary offenders in Hastings to prevent and arrest those responsible for our current increases. No pressure Paul!


We continue to carry out regular warrants as a District to arrest offenders and recover stolen property and drugs. Please keep the community intelligence flowing into us, if you suspect crime in your street report it!

A good example of turning your information into action; this month Lewes Crown Court sentenced Xavier Montag to six months imprisonment. Local residents suspected he was dealing drugs in the town center and reported it. An excellent response led to his arrest and conviction.

I'm looking forward this week to visiting and speaking with to the committee of the Hastings & St Leonards Seniors' Forum and the Hastings Chamber of Commerce.

Sadly last week I supported local head teachers by speaking to sixth form students in relation to the sad death of a talented young man Jacob Woodstra. Jacob's attack was not random and the offenders have been quickly arrested and remanded in custody.

My message to students was crime is at a seven year low in Hastings, however we live in a world where young people are faced with difficult decisions. The decisions you make today influence your safety and can have serious consequences. Drinking alcohol, taking drugs, carrying knifes or hanging around with people that do is risky business.

Hopefully one day something positive will come from this awful loss of a young life, if you have any information that can prevent an incident like this happening again please contact us or crime stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Finally I would like to share with you the excellent work by off duty PCSOs O'Hara and Goddard again following information from the community in the Hollington area.

Information was received that a woman was driving her children to school and smelt heavily of alcohol. Acting straight away on this information a vehicle was located in an area where many young children were walking to school.

The vehicle was stopped by police officers and the woman was arrested. It is believed she was under the influence of drink and drugs and has now been taken off the road.

This is Serving Sussex in action and a fantastic example of our PCSOs keeping people safe!

There are lots of ways you can find out what is happening in Hastings and about your local Police team. Visit the Sussex Police website at www.sussex.police.uk or sign up to receive updates directly from your local team. This is called community messaging. Give your details to your local officer who will add you to the system or contact PCSO Lucy Paffett at lucy.paffett@sussex.pnn.police.uk You can also follow us on twitter. Search for Hastings police and sign up.

Chief Inspector Heather Keating

District Commander