It comes as NPW has launched ‘Information Wanted’, a service to aid police investigations into serious crimes affecting the pub trade.
The ‘Information Wanted’ website includes CCTV stills and police information about known offenders. NPW hopes that licensees will inform it of crimes to help update the site.
Chairman Steve Baker explained that many offenders leave the area soon after crimes to avoid being caught. He believes that details on the ‘Information Wanted’ website will reach more hosts around the country.
Serious crime
Baker called for licensees who have been victims of crimes or have seen serious crimes taking place in their pub to get in touch with their local police force, and NPW.
NPW will then ask the police for information on the offender and post it on the ‘Information Wanted’ site.
“One of the things that worries Pubwatch members is when they suffer crime, so we wanted to do something to support them. They can use the website to post information about people who have committed a crime, and help the police track down the criminals.
“Having made some phone calls, it seems that the criminals do not stay in the same area where they committed the crime. So while there have been local appeals to track them down, these haven’t worked because they have moved along to the next town.
“Licensees need to report all crimes to the police, and if we are allowed to, we will put this information on the website. We want it to pull together information about all criminals so that licensees are more aware. I would ask licensees to submit good CCTV images.”
■ Contact admin@nationalpubwatch.org.uk as well as michelle.perrett@wrbm.com if you have details on offenders