Tax rebate scam

Please be aware of an email scam which claim recipients have been awarded a tax rebate and asks for credit card and bank details. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are warning tax payers and Internet users in Nottinghamshire of this scam.

The scam takes the form of an email and informs recipients that they are due a tax rebate. The email contains a link to a cloned replica of the HMRC website. The HMRC are fully aware of this scam and are carrying out ongoing work to continue to shut down cloned websites.

Please remain vigilant when receiving emails from any source that you are unfamiliar with. It is not common practice for such organisations communicate via email with regards to updating or requesting personal information; the usual method is via letter.

If you are in doubt always check the sender information

Be Safe, with some practical and modern advice.
by Stoppared,
The following ideas have been drawn from several sources and my observations during my time involved in supplying security equipment and advice over the last few years.

We are constantly being told that crime is down, and we are safer than ever before, and yet it's the fear of crime that causes us the most issues. Here I hope to pass on some practical and up to date advice that will help you and your families to remain safe whilst making it much harder for opportunist criminals to thrive within our communities.

We are all very used to hearing the standard advice of, keep to well lit areas, carry an alarm, never walk alone late at night or take short cuts. While these are all very sound pieces of advice they only go so far, crime happens in well lit areas, often in relatively busy places. Simply sticking to well lit areas or standing near a CCTV camera might not be enough.
With some sensible precautions and a clear understanding of how criminals will select their victims you should hopefully never need to learn how to actually defend yourself physically.

So what can we do?
Talk to the local police, read the local newspaper, develop an interest in what happens in the places you regularly frequent. Understand the dangers as they apply to you and the places you find yourself.

Attacks never 'come from nowhere' Attacks are always the end of a chain of events and coincidence that you always have some control over. You have to learn to recognise the danger signals that precede an attack by becoming more aware of your surroundings and who is watching you.

Learn to appear confident and alert.
Avoid being under the influence of drink or drugs when out in public
Avoid getting lost or appearing pre-occupied, or being overly tired, or upset whilst out in public.
Make the opportunist look elsewhere, most opportunists do not need much to be dissuaded.
Put yourself in the position of the criminal.
Opportunist criminals are constantly on the look out for victims. They are experts at selecting those who will give them the least trouble, at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. It is not a game to these people, there are no rules and fair play does not enter into it.

Think like an attacker.
If you were going to mug someone, where would you do it?
Who would you select and why?
The Lee Sansum Life Saving Colours©
Taken from Lee Sansum Family Awareness Training
Lee Sansum is former body guard for Diana, Princess of Wales. He has developed a 'traffic light system' for your personal safety. As the attack develops you will find yourself with a different light on the scale.

White - safe
White is used to describe any situation that is safe, for example at home or driving under normal conditions with the doors locked.

Green - location
Green is used to describe any situation you find yourself in a location that is public or contains strangers. The potential threats and level of danger will vary depending on all sorts of variable factors but you are aware that the potential for danger exists and you have relaxed and aware state of mind.

Amber - selection
Before you can be attacked the opportunist must first select you as a victim. But how do you know this has happened before the actual attack?
Warning signs include-
Seeing someone several times in a short space of time-attackers often pass their potential victim several times, what are the chances that the other person is visiting the same shops as you in exactly the same order? Or the chances of the other person following you through town and being parked next to your car in the car park? Also watch out for people's movements matching yours. What are the chances of someone walking and stopping at exactly the same time as you?
A person looking at you for an uncomfortable length of time, or someone who seems to be looking at you every time you look in their direction, or someone who appears nervous or agitated.

Red - approach
Before someone can attack you, they have to come close to you, or you have to approach them. If the person who has been watching you starts to walk towards you, or put themselves in a position where you have to pass close to them then you have a red light situation.
Turn around and walk in the opposite direction, cross the road, stop, nip into a shop, drive around the block, if you see a red light situation you should force the criminal into making a decision. Make him look obviously suspicious by confirming your doubts that you have been selected or pick on someone else.

Very often the opportunist will realise that the game is up, and kick themselves for targeting the wrong person. They do not want their victim to know they are being attacked until the actual attack.

Red is the time to physically prepare.

Black - interaction
If the victim has not been paying attention and the selection and approach have been successful this will lead to the final phase - the actual physical attack.
It might start with a verbal interaction- something to distract you, or perhaps something reassuring just in case you are on your guard.

An aggressive exchange, or a question you cannot answer without upsetting the attacker or a series of unreasonable demands. Many attackers have to build themselves up to a fight.
Then will come the physical interaction.

Ideally you want to always be in Green, if you ever find yourself in Amber or Red you need to act positively to remove yourself from the potential danger and in doing so make it clear to the opportunist that you are not an easy victim.

If you are caught out
Make a noise, opportunists do not like noise and the attention it might bring, use your attack alarm. Spray your StoppaRed marker spray to deter and confuse your attacker whilst making a noise and running away. The red dye and invisible UV dyes will increase the chances of the police catching the offender, and he will know that being covered in red dye is going to make it impossible to escape unseen.

Make your way to a place of safety after the incident, do not hang about or give your attacker the chance to 're-group' and come after you, this time with a score to settle!

You are safer now
Be confident because you have taken the time to understand the threats. The thought of suddenly being attacked 'from nowhere' does not apply to you because you understand the different phases of an attack.

Remember
Location
Selection
Approach
Interaction

Because you know the sequence of events, you know the routine and you have a better understanding of what the criminal is looking for and you can therefore develop ways of safely de-escalating the situation and making yourself a less likely victim.
If you sense that 'something' is wrong, it often is and sooner you spot it the less likely you be attacked.

For more information please contact your local Crime Prevention Officer, StoppaRed.com, or Lee Sansum Family Awareness Training Ltd.
© Stoppared & Lee Sansum Awareness Training Ltd. All rights reserved
STOPPARED.COM
Tel: 0115 7142444

Uniformed Social Services?

Last week I saw a teenager aged about 17 sit next to a copper. Nothing odd about that I hear you say. Well the copper was cleaning graffiti off a chair that the teenager had drawn earlier and although the teen had tried to clean it off he was having little success so the very helpful Bobby took charge an cleaned it for him. The teen was then allowed to walk off.

I suppose they call it 'engaging with the yoofs'

Unbelievable.

A little gem for our local Police Inspector

The following text is from an email that the local police Inspector sends out regularly via some new fancy pants online system the police are quite proud of.

"Tough economic times are, unfortunately, boom times for scammers, as people desperate for money and jobs let down their guards and are more likely to pursue questionable financial opportunities that caution might ordinarily warn them away from. And as people become more inure to monetary woes, their charitable inclinations are more easily exploited by scammers pretending to be persons in need of sympathetic helping hands.

We cannot list every scam we get to know about on this web site it would just inundate your mail box. We will continue to warn you of major scams and to assist you to protect yourself we have placed some generic advice on how to avoid scams on the left hand side of the front page of the web site.

The old adage of if it’s too good to be true, it probably is, is well worth consideration."

Now OK I know he means well but honestly is the above actually worth sending to people? And should someone on an Inspectors pay be spending his valuable time stating the obvious?

Son defends mother from knifeman

He needs a medal and a government role advising idiot ministers on matters of common sense.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7665578/Knifeman-neighbour-killed-as-schoolboy-defends-his-mother.html

Shop keeper beaten by robbers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264151/Caught-CCTV-The-sickening-moment-robbers-attacked-woman-shopkeeper-telescopic-batons.html?ITO=1490

A shopkeeper has been beaten with police style batons after they tried to detain a robber.

Remember folks, you are not allowed to keep a truncheon behind your counter to help you effect the lawful arrest of robbers, but of course robbers ignore the law and therefore are careful to make sure they can beat you senseless should try and lawfully detain them.

And if any of them get caught the person who sold them the batons will probably get a bigger fine than the robbers.

Offend the State and pay the price, hurt someone and...

The average fine handed to a robber is less than the average parking ticket. It is easy to feel angry about this especially if you have ever been a bit late moving your car or parked with a wheel a few inches over a line.

It really does appear that 'crimes' against the State's rules and regulations are dealt with far more strictly than crimes against the person. We are therefore left between a rock and a hard place with uniformed officials who are very strict when enforcing what are actually very minor bye laws and criminals who in practical terms have very little to fear from the State themselves.

Twice now I have looked in a moment of need towards a man in a white shirt and peaked cap thinking a Constable was at hand to help, only to realise that I was in fact in the presence of somone whose only interest was litter or parking tickets. Ok in the case of the Council 'community protection officer' had I been reporting someone for drinking alcohol in public instead of Actual Bodily Harm he would have leapt into action. Far more people are employed to patrol our city centres looking for litter bugs and inconsiderate motorists than there are police constables looking for thieves and thugs. The peace can be breached and it's acceptable for the police to have to react afterwards with loud sirens and flashing lights whilst the council employ ticket wardens who have the luxury of being able to stand looking at their watches, waiting for a contravention to occur.

I work within the Criminal Justice System albeit it on the edge of it. I see nasty people found guilty of nasty things walking away with a attitude of defiance or indifference whilst on Council tax defaulters day I see other people trembling as they walk into the courthouse. Recently I saw a drug dealer laughing at the Bench when they told him he would pay his £100 at a rate of £5 per week DIRECT FROM HIS BENEFITS. To be honest the Magistrates looked relieved when he left court, they appear to prefer people who shake with fear or show due deferrance in some other accepted way-our drug dealing chap clearly was not in the least bit afraid of them and they knew it.

Something is very wrong and now is the time for us to do something about it.

Police Trespass-aggrevated trespass =criminal offence

Police accused of trespass after 'burgling' 50 homes to show owners how insecure they are
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Burglar Old Bill: Police officers entered 50 homes without warrants as part of an anti-crime initiative

A police force that 'burgled' people's homes to show owners why they should lock their doors has been accused of trespass.
Officers walked into residents' homes without their knowledge through unlocked doors and windows and left behind 'swag bags' packed with valuable items they found in the homes.
Some residents were at home at the time officers entered but were unaware they were being 'burgled' as part of an anti-crime drive in Exeter, Devon.
Police entered more than 50 unsecured properties in a controversial operation designed to show how easy it is for burglars to get into homes.
PC Rob Bolt, neighbourhood beat manager in the St James area of Exeter, said: 'Officers were able to walk into people's homes and place the swag bags in the properties while we could hear them upstairs.'
But critics warned police could be physically attacked as intruders or taken to court if homeowners claimed their property was damaged or missing.
Resident Mike Parsons said: 'Talk about a police state. Since when have members of the constabulary been allowed to enter into someone's private property uninvited and without a warrant?
'How long before a police officer is attacked and fatally wounded by a worried householder who hears a noise downstairs and then attacks the intruder? This is trespass, plain and simple.'
The lawyer Neil Scott, an expert on criminal law, said: 'I have never heard of anything like this before and it seems to be incredibly risky.
'No one has an automatic right of entry to someone else's property without consent - that applies to police officers and members of the public and whether it is unsecured is irrelevant.
'Police need a warrant from a magistrates court if they wish to do this, or they may enter a property if they believe an offence is being committed.
'With regard to this initiative, they neither had a warrant nor were they dealing with an offence.
'To my mind, if they have entered properties like this, they are trespassers.
'Trespassing is not a criminal offence but it is considered a civil wrong and could be pursued through the courts as such.'
Mr Scott said the police could face problems by carrying out such operations.
He said: 'What if one of the home owners goes on to claim that something has gone missing while the officers were in the property? There is a risk of an accusation of burglary.
'What if an item is damaged while they are in the property? This is also burglary, although unlikely to lead to prosecution.
'And everyone is entitled to defend their property from intruders. Conceivably an officer could have been attacked.
'If the police tried to prosecute this as assaulting a police officer, the home owner would have a strong legal defence.
'I presume the force has looked into all this but it seems to me to be a very strange course of action.'
Exeter Police Commander John Vellacott defended the initiative, saying: 'Burglaries in the city are 25 per cent down because of proactive policing.
'Around 50 per cent of burglaries are due to inadequate home security.'
Police said most of the homes they visited were multi-occupancy student accommodation properties with unsecured doors and windows.

If they are armed with baton or CS then it's actually a criminal offence.

So you think crime is down do you?

Drug dealer/burglar - "the prisons are rammed, I got 18 month community order for possession of class A with intent to supply and burglary, the courts don't give nothing out at the moment, do you get me?"

Just overheard this conversation. The criminals know the system is broken, the Courts must know it too and if the Government don't realise it then we really are done for.

If only the people would realise who their biggest enemies really are...