If you have witnessed a crime or suspicious activity, especially in relation to dwellings, driveways or gardens, please report it to us. 

As additional ‘eyes and ears’ within the community, you can help us to reduce crime, and make communities safer by knowing what to report and how to report it. The police will take your report seriously and check out the situation. What you see and report may be invaluable to an investigation, could prevent crime and potentially save lives.

Suspicious activity can refer to any incident, event, individual, vehicle, or activity that seems unusual or out of place. Some common examples of suspicious activities include: Strangers loitering in your neighbourhood looking at houses, driveways and gardens, a vehicle cruising the streets repeatedly or someone peering into cars and windows or trying to open them.

Please note down descriptions of individuals and details of vehicles, and any occupants, if it is safe to do so. 

We all know that 999 is the phone number for emergencies, but what makes a situation an emergency? There are two questions to ask yourself to determine whether or not your call is an emergency.

Protecting life is the number one priority for the police, NHS, ambulance and fire services. Every emergency service worker will dedicate themselves to protecting lives.

If there is a real possibility that someone could lose their life or be seriously injured if they don’t receive help immediately, then you need to call 999.

As the police, we really like to be able to catch criminals in the act.

As well as potentially preventing the crime being committed, someone being hurt and items being stolen, it is also the very best evidence we can get to prove that someone has committed the crime.

You can help us do this by calling 999 when the crime is taking place and if criminals have just left the scene of a crime.

Once criminals have left the scene, we may still send police officers, PCSOs or a member of police staff out to investigate the crime, as this is at the very heart of policing. But, if time has passed, there may no longer be a need for us to get there immediately, so you should call us on 101 or report it online at www.thamesvalley.police.uk

Depending on the crime, we will send someone from the right team out to speak with you as soon as we can, or arrange a time to visit that suits you or you may get a call from one of our investigation teams to discuss the incident over the phone.

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, please use our textphone service 18000 or text us on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.

Reports are dealt with by our control room in exactly the same way whether you report them online or by telephone. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on free phone 0800 555 111. 

Thank you for helping us combat crime in your neighbourhood.