Rural Weekly Update

January is almost at an end and spring is doing its best to shine on through the rain clouds, your local Rurals officers have been acting upon intelligence given to us regarding prolific shoplifters targeting shops and stores in and around the Rurals area.

Officers conducted a plain clothes operation across multiple days in Dorridge where upon hearing from staff of the location of a high-profile shop lifter attempting to steal; officers acted quickly and after a brief struggle successfully apprehended the suspect of who upon being searched was found to be in possession of a bladed article, the investigation continues and we will be conducting more plain clothes operations in the near future targeting more shop lifters in and around the Rurals area.

Our officer also attended some of the local warm hubs that have been voluntarily provided in and around the Balsall Common area and the staff and visitors of the St Peter's Church on Holly lane were most welcoming. It was great to sit down and speak to those attending not only about some of the issues they had questions about but to also engage in friendly conversation, PC Keidron; our resident history buff was grateful to learn more of the history Temple Balsall from residents. 

You may have also noticed an increase of road works on and around the A452 both North and South as part of the ongoing HS2 development, with a series of road closures planned over the coming weeks we advise checking the HS2 website on what roads will be affected and when.  Please also be mindful of travelling these roads as despite the best efforts of HS to clean the roads between development sites the mud combined with the poor weather we are experiencing can make the roads slippery and will affect safe stopping distances.

Whilst I prefer to end these letters on a positive note it is with a sad news that we say goodbye to one of our service officers, PC Rob “Bobert” Barnes will be leaving us to start his new posting as a Digital Forensics Officer starting in early February,  Rob came to us from working response back in the summer of 23 bringing a wealth of skills and knowledge and has since been an integral part of the team, his ability to make a cracking cup of tea/coffee at just the right moment on a difficult shift is the stuff of legends.  We’ll miss you Rob, and good luck in your future endeavours.

PCSO Bill Ryder