Crime Prevention Advice
Northumbria Police, Newcastle City Council and the Universities are working together to ensure your safety whilst you study, work and socialise in Newcastle.
You may think you’re hard up and living in a dodgy flat, but students tend to own more expensive consumer goods per head than the rest of the population. Let’s face it you’ve probably got a mobile, an expensive laptop, games consoles and a range of household electrical items to boot. You’re probably in a house share too, which means a house jam-packed full of very attractive shiny things for thieves to get their hands on.
Here’s some advice to ensure to stay safe and happy whilst in the city – and don’t become another crime statistic!
- Keep valuables out of the site of windows- especially if your room is downstairs. Working on your laptop in the window – you may as well be invited the thieves in!
- Check the window locks, especially on downstairs and basement windows and your doors - make sure they’re strong, secure and with proper locks! Keep your doors and windows locked when you go out. Sounds simple and kind of obvious but so many burglaries could have been avoided by doing this.
- Make sure your wheelie bin is in your yard, and that your gate is shut and bolted.
- If you have expensive items, don’t leave the empty boxes outside your house, rip them up and file them under a bin.
- If you have not already, mark your property. This can make it harder for a burglar to sell your property on and help the police to return items to you.
- Get insured – it’s better to be safe than sorry! Be aware that some insurance companies don’t pay out if the thief gets in through an unlocked door or window. Keep lists of the make, model and serial numbers of your electronic items to help police track them down if they are stolen. See www.immobilise.com for further details.
- Never walk home alone. Meet up with your friends and if you get a taxi, use a marshalled taxi rank at Central Station, The Bigg Market and The Gate. These are marshalled by the police to reduce anti-social behaviour and to make sure people get home quickly and safely.
- If you walk home keep to well lit paths on the main routes out of town. Avoid shortcuts, alleyways and deserted areas like car parks. Cutting a few minutes off your journey by taking a short cut is never worth it.
- Remember, you are not only at risk of becoming a victim of crime. Drunken behaviour or antics on the way home may be classed as anti-social behaviour and in Newcastle this is taken very seriously. If you do receive any conviction it can be seriously affect your chosen career. Stealing shopping trolleys, running over cars and being drunk and disorderly are all offences that may not only see you spending a night in the nick, you may also get yourself a conviction.
