If you spend a day in a park keep any property with you

THE recent spell of hot weather brought people out in their droves. The local parks and pubs were packed and no doubt anyone who organised an event saw it well attended.

Whilst it is good to see people out enjoying themselves I also believe that the hot weather appears to make people lose a sense of perspective in other matters.

We do things we would not normally do and it is some of these things that mean, as a police officer, I have to pick up the pieces.

On walking around my beat I have, on at least three occasions in the past weeks, had to knock on a resident's door to inform them that they had left their car windows down, and on one occasion someone had forgotten to shut the boot of their car, leaving a baby seat and laptop bag complete with computer on display.

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At 11pm one evening I had to knock on the doors of houses to remind people that they may wish to consider shutting the downstairs windows of their home.

And on two separate occasions this involved waking the occupant up as they had gone to bed thinking their flat was secure.

Criminals give everyone a hard time as it is, so let's not give them a helping hand by leaving property insecure or on display. We all forget to do things, it is human nature and whilst there are career criminals walking our streets there are also more opportunist thieves looking to make a quick buck at someone else's expense.

It is also worth considering that your insurance may be invalidated if you have been found to be negligent in relation to your property and we all know that insurance companies are quick to take your money but reluctant to pay it out.

So do remember to tidy away any tools that you may have been using during the course of a day in the garden, as again a pitch fork or shovel can be useful to a criminal to force open doors and break locks to gain entry to properties.

And whilst it is a fair assumption to think that police officers would stop and speak to anyone carrying such items around the street during the early hours of the morning, if the criminal can find these items readily to hand in or around a property then he will have no need to bring any with him.

Finally, another timely reminder that if you spend the day in a nearby park keep any property with you or close by. A discarded mountain bike left on the grass whilst its owner goes to buy an ice cream is a tempting item for the criminal and the last thing you would want is your expensive bike being ridden off into the sunset never to be seen again.