“Don’t risk your personal safety. Personal property can be replaced, you can’t be”

Policing teams across Southampton, Eastleigh and Hedge End are imploring victims of robbery, and those who witness incidents, to come forward at the earliest opportunity and report offences to Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary.

It comes after an analysis of crime reports in relation to robbery across these areas have indicated that offences are often being reported to the Constabulary many hours after the initial incident has taken place. This has a detrimental impact on the ability of our officers to carry out thorough and comprehensive investigations – due to officers not being able to always able follow-up on reasonable lines of enquiry due to lack of information or description, lack of evidence or a suspect no longer being on-scene.

Offences committed against a person – where money or property is taken – are often interchangeably described as “theft”, “burglary” and “robbery”. Often, when taking reports of incidents, we hear victims tell call handlers that ‘I have been robbed’ as a catch-all for theft offences. Yet, “theft”, “burglary” and “robbery” refer to different crimes, involving the unlawful taking of property, with varying degrees of force.

Robbery, as set out in law, is as follows: “a person is guilty of robbery if they steal, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person of being then and there subjected to force”.

This can include street robberies or muggings, whereby a victim is approached by an assailant and demands made to them – normally in a violent manner given the nature of the offending - to hand over cash or valuable property; the likes of mobile phones, headphones, designer clothes, designer watches and smartwatches are just some of those items which have been targeted.

Detective Chief Inspector, Matt Gillooly, said: “Robbery of any kind can be particularly harrowing for victims who are often subjected to violence, or fear of violence, as part of the ordeal they face at the hands of their attackers. We want to appeal to anyone who has been a victim of a robbery to report it to us directly after it has happened; as this gives us the best chance to deploy local officers to the scene and begin carrying out relevant lines of enquiry as soon as possible. This will afford officers a greater probability of either identifying or locating a suspect in the local area and bringing them to justice in front of the courts via our investigations.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing a trend whereby peer-on-peer offending between young people is occurring, but that these offences are not reported to us directly by the victim at the time of the offence, but the parents of the victims – sometimes many hours or potentially days after the offence has been committed.

“If you, or someone you know has been a victim of robbery, we would strongly encourage you to report it to us immediately without delay by calling 999 if an incident is taking place or by making a report via the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary report.

“To offer some reassurance, we are not currently seeing an increase in these types of offences in local areas – but we want residents to be aware that Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary is fully committed to relentlessly pursuing criminals who pose a threat and those who continue to cause harm in our local communities.

“Yet, to those who are committing such acts, we want to send a very clear message that we will not tolerate this behaviour in our local neighbourhoods and communities. We will take robust action to ensure that justice is served for victims.

“We want to ensure local areas across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight remain safe places to live and work – no one should feel threatened or intimidated when they are going about their daily lives.

“Finally, if you are threatened with violence – and it’s so important to remember this - don't risk your personal safety. Property can be replaced, you can't.”

Robbery against a person, such as street robbery is often driven by opportunity. There are a number of actions that can be taken to help prevent becoming a victim:

• Plan your route if walking alone. Try to stay on busy, well-lit routes rather than taking short cuts.

• Keep your bag fastened shut and wear the bag strap diagonally across your body.

• Keep valuable items (like designer watches and jewellery) hidden from view.

• You are less likely to be targeted if you look confident, move with purpose and are aware of your surroundings.

• Keep your mobile phone out of sight. If you’re using your phone it’s more likely to be snatched from your hand as you’ll be paying less attention to your surroundings.

• Avoid wearing headphones/ear pods as this reduces your awareness.

• Register your property for free on www.immobilise.com.

• If you’ve visited a public place where you do not feel safe, report it through the Streetsafe Tool, an incident does not need to have occurred, it may be that you do not feel safe through lack of lighting or the area has other dark vulnerable places

Dial 999 immediately if there is an emergency, a crime is in progress or there is life is at risk. If you, or someone you know, has been a victim of a robbery sometime earlier we would advise you to please make a report to us by calling 101.

You can also make a report online: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/.