South Division Committee
Minutes of Annual General Meeting on 28thMarch 2017
at Chaddesden Community Centre, Oakleigh Ave, Derby DE21 6NR
Attendees
Brian Farthing, Gill Riley, Keith Mellors, Tony Grace, Ross Head, Simon Chilvers, Per Staehr, Ged Potter, Peter Walker, Rob Straw, Derek Morley, Jackie Bosworth, Anne Turnbull, Leslie Corke, Veronica Nolan, Debbie Grafton, Beryl Hurst, Jeanette Kent.
1. &6Welcome and Report for the year.
As Chair, Tony Grace welcomed all to the meeting. Many changes have happened; D Division is now South Derbyshire Division. Auditing has shown some dormant Watches, but NWs banner is still held high. Police were interested in conversations comparing North and South Divisions’ arrangements. There is a new Chief Superintendent at St Mary’s Wharf who is very cooperative, so TG looks forward to building this relationship. Insp. Richard Keene is now responsible for community policing, and Kate Bowyer remains as Crime Prevention Officer. There are a number of voluntary staff now working in the NW office.
Ross Head has stood in as Treasurer, but is Treasurer for Derbyshire NW Association Trust, and GR also helped sort things out. Somethings have been disappointing; there were fewer events which Brian Farthing was famous for, but the Derby Gaol event was well attended, when we worked with the office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) and Police Cadets.
TG has heard from other organisations that can’t get volunteers, so NW is seeking consolidation with them, e.g. Derby Homes.
2. Apologies
Hazel Staley, Marie McGirr, Jill Brownsword, Barry Hodgkinson, Janet Marshall.
3. Approval of Minutes from AGM on 3rd May 2016
Proposed by Brian Farthing, seconded by Dan Beadell, so minutes accepted.
4.Matters arising - Chair of DNWAT- Tony Grace
Q. Neighbourhood policing in areas like Long Eaton has ceased to exist; this is a change in Police Policy, now reactive and not community-minded.
A.TG- View expressed by many people. Policing is changing rapidly, and way of analysing threats and risks may be flawed. We need to keep pressure on the PCC, but there are not enough people or money.
Q. Rural Crime Unit of 25 officers must have been taken from other areas.
A. TG- we need to ensure NW fulfils their obligations.
Q. 101 calls cost 15p on landline, but mobile costs must be large when answering takes time, losing information.
A.TG- 101 reaction times are coming down, and there are fewer cut-offs.
Gill Riley has worked extremely hard over the last year (and for many years) so she was presented with a lovely bouquet, which was gratefully and surprisedly accepted.
5.Guest Speaker- PC Gerard Grace, Digital Media Investigator
Based on sections of the Stay Safe booklet:
Internet safety- Everyone leaves a digital footprint, ripe for exploitation. Criminals have moved to the online world.The internet will be an increasing part of life, so we’ll have increased dependence on security. Crooks use social engineering; if you are not on social media, your family may be, so you will still have an online presence.
Passwords- these are the only guard against people getting into accounts: email, banking, social media etc. People use pet names, date of birth (own or family’s). So use a phrase such as ‘the summer sun’ and numbers so this is hard for criminals to work out. £ sign is good to use, as it is only on UK keyboards, but some service providers don’t allow this. Change passwords regularly. There is a phone app for encrypted passwords, which are safe and backed-up- they are not easy to remember.
Phishing- send to Action Fraud may send out 100,000 emails, but if only two or three reply this makes it worthwhile.
Wi-Fi- If you use Wi-Fi when out, consider insecure Wi-Fi at airports, on buses, stations, shopping centres etc. as someone with Wi-Fi may have their phone used as a hot-spot to connect to criminal’s Wi-Fi i.e. ‘sniffing equipment’. If you go online on your phone, your data could be harvested. Airports are very bad for this, as people book a car, using bank details, then criminal has your info. So, if you use your phone for browsing, this is OK. If you are purchasing or using bank details, be careful. At hotels, use the Wi-Fi password of the hotel.
Routers- change the password. Criminals can find the default gateway into router and get in. They can also exploit the port on a router using printers’ access info.
YouTube- shows you how to change your password. Change all default passwords ie original ones, as these are open source, ie available for all to see.
Tricking- don’t be tricked into giving personal details away, e.g. when someone phones you saying there is a fault on your computer, so give us remote access to repair it. Criminals get all your details from you, eg when you buy a TV, give email to seller, so it is then available. Details end up on the Dark Web for criminals to buy, working outside UK jurisdiction.
Locking phones- criminals use lost unlocked phones to use emails, reset your banking password, send money elsewhere, and you then have no access to it.
Infected computers- Can become crypto-locked and held to ransom with bit coins (untraceable digital currency). Some virus attacks are viral, so switch off, then switch on and go to your last back-up, as it could just be someone with a conning web-page, i.e. scam. Clear your cookies and history, but, it could be the bit-coin version.
Lovely picture email- don’t open it, as while you are admiring it your info is being downloaded in the background, i.e. delete emails if you don’t know who it’s from. Right-hover over hyperlink to see actual email that has sent the message.
New IP Act- people are scared of snoopers, but to snoop on private info, Police need to go to a Judge to explain why, which is not easy or quick, so this is not about snooping on ordinary people.
Derbyshire Constabulary site- excellent on cybercrime and signposts to other helpful sites, such as Stay Safe online.
6. Chairman’s Report for the yearSee above
7. Treasurer’s Report- Ross Head
Picked up accounts 9 months ago, and has solved problems; next week he will again present accounts to the auditor. He has had problems with the bank, now resolved. New officers may need to be added as signatories; we need two signatories per cheque, out of currently four available signatories.
8. Police Report
No Police present, but missed.
9. Election of Officers
Nominations for Chair- Ged Potter, who spoke- former Derbyshire detective, then in National Intelligence, NW coordinator since 2001, City Councillor for Allestree. Understands the Police problems; their new policy of ‘Threat & Risk’ means Police are moved around, losing local continuity. As a councillor, he is taking issues to the Police Advisory Body.The Chair needs three ingredients: time, he works full-time but will soon be part-time, inclination, he wants to be proactive, and is NW fit for purpose, if not he will work to make it so, with Police, NW and coordinators. Currently coordinators feel disengaged with Police, so he wants to make their duties less onerous, more time-efficient, and getting info in the form they want. Need to get info from Police, not just on Twitter.
Secretary- Dan Beadell, currently Events organiser,
Committee member- Sara Sneddon.
10. AOB
Events- currently 3or 4 events already booked.
Financial situation is stabilised, so will buy safety items.
Office is manned 5 days per week, but phone first 0300 122 8695.
Has good deal on Smartwater, preferable to Datatag, which is really for industrial equipment. 50 Free kits have been offered, but after 12 months there is a bill so it is more expensive than SmartWater (£25 for life).
Ged was asked to write a five-line overview of his approachfor coordinators in different areas. Action- GR to Alert.
Dan- NW can be revitalised, e.g. in Darley Abbey.
Peter Walker asked why no Police presence. Insp Keene was invited but did not attend; no apology given.
TG wished new Chair and Secretary every success, and thanked people for attending.
11.Meeting closed at 8-45pm, next AGM date to be arranged.
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