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A GINGER-coloured cocker spaniel about one year old was stolen from the county showground in Detling Hill.A silver VW Polo was seen leaving the area at speed. A car parked in Senacre Square, Senacre


was broken into and itemswere stolen. The rear number plate was taken from a


Ford Focus parked in Ragstone Road, Bearsted. The windscreen wipers and mirror glass


were stolen from a car parked on a driveway in Mynn Crescent, Bearsted. The door and window of a carwere damaged in Abigail Crescent,Walderslade but nothing was taken. A trailerwas taken from an outbuilding


in Lidsing Road, Boxley. Itemswere stolen from a building in


Lock Lane, Sandling. A portable toiletwas taken from outside


a premises in The Street, Boxley. Two carswere taken from a driveway in


Birch Drive, Lordswood after a break-in at a property in which the keyswere stolen. AnAudi TTwas later recovered, but a grey Audi RS3 saloon, with a registration starting GC15, is still missing. A car parked in a layby in Boxley Road, Boxley was broken into and items stolen. Alcoholwas stolen in a break-in at a building in Lock Lane, Sandling. An outbuilding in PilgrimsWay, Boxley


was entered and several hay baleswere stolen. A container on a building site in Orchard


View, Detlingwas entered and equipment was stolen. A building sitewas broken into in PilgrimsWay, Thurnham.Menwere seen behaving suspiciously in the area and


NeighbourhoodWatch Working to reduce crime. Call Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 or local police


enquiries are ongoing. A home in Hockers Lane, Detling was broken into and jewellerywas stolen. A Ford Focuswas broken into in a car


park in Deringwood Drive, Downswood. A Tom-Tom sat-nav, jewellery and cash were stolen. A vehiclewas damaged while it was parked outside the owner’s property in Goldthorne Close, Vinters Park. A silver and black Raleigh Mustang mountain bike was stolen from the communal area of a block of flats in Chiltern Close, Downswood. A garage in a block in Milstead Close,


Vinters Park was broken into and fishing equipment stolen. Parts were removed from a vehicle parked on the owner’s drive in Hill Crescent, Lenham. A vehiclewas taken from a garden in Greenway Lane, Harrietsham. A Kia Rio parked in High Street, Lenham


was scratched. A small green trailer was stolen from a garden in Greenway Lane, Harrietsham. A Ford Mondeo parked on a driveway in


Hill Crescent, Lenham was damaged.A man ran off when hewas disturbed by the resident. A storage unitwas broken into in


Gravelly Boom Road, Broomfield and toolswere stolen. A car parked on land in Stockbury was


found burned out. Enquiries are ongoing. Doorswere damaged in an aempt to


break in to a property in Bicknor Lane, Bicknor. The front wheelswere stolen from a Ford Transit van parked in a layby in Stockbury Valley. The window of a car parked in Graveney


Road, Senacre was smashed.Amanwas seen behaving suspiciously at the time. A caravan, trailer and an outbuilding


were broken into at a commercial yard in PilgrimsWay, Boxley. Nothing appeared to have been taken. The side window of a carwas smashed


in ShorehamWalk, Senacre but nothing was taken. A commercial property was broken into


in PilgrimsWay, Boxley and agricultural plantwas damaged. A van parked on the driveway of a property in Woolley Road, Senacre was broken into but nothing appeared to have been taken.


PROTECT YOUR HOME


ALARMS FROM £495


+VAT Tracking phone habits


BUSINESSESin Maidstone town centre are beingurged to embrace mobile phone tracking to keep pace with online shopping. Tracking software is now avail-


able, which can monitor shoppers’ movements and habits. The data gathered can be used


by retailers to counter shoppers’ driftaway from town centre stores to the comfort of their computer. The systemwas trialled in Maid-


stone on Black Friday in Novem- ber – supposedly the busiest day for bargains prior to Christmas – on behalf of Maidstone Council and MaidstoneTownCentre Man- agement. By tracking shoppers’ mobile phones, a company – aptly named Scout Solutions Ltd – was able to discover 3,135 people vis- ited the area between McDonalds in Week Street, the bottom of Gabriel’s Hill, the High Street and King Street between November 25 and December 8. The busiest days for unique vis-


itors were November 28, Decem- ber 2, 6 and 8. The busiest times were at about


noon and between 4pm and 7pm. The busiest footfallwas in the area surrounding The Mall and Gabriels Hill.


A series of six nodes positioned


in the town was able to capture mobile phone activity and also de- tect how many shoppers logged into Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter to potentially compare prices of goods for sale in shops. Town centre retailers


could soon take up the service to retain their market share. Scout Solutions direc-


tor Pete Hotchkiss, pic- tured, said: “Increasing numbers of people are making their purchases online. If high street shops are to retain their share of the market,we need to en- courage people to buy in the high street.” Using sophisticated hardware,


the company can track shoppers whose mobile phones are switched on. However, they cannot identify individuals nor any of the content on their phones – just their location and usage. Analysing the data with equally sophisticated software enables the company to eliminate multiple sig- nals – so the 3,135 shoppers were individuals and not the same peo-


ple identified in different locations. Mr Hotchkiss said: “Data scien-


tists understand in minute detail howpeople usewebsites.We need to obtain insights into how people behave ifwe are to remain competi- tive.Data such as this can be used to reveal what are the busiest times, how often shoppers re- turn to a particular loca- tion and how long they spent in that environ- ment. “We can also find out


how many people are simply browsing, then ordering online via their phones – or possibly shop- ping later at home.” November 2015 was the eighth


month in a row that shopkeepers had noted a decline in footfall and Black Friday shoppers were 3.4% down on the previous month. Tracking services can be com-


bined with Google analytics and other software, such as weather forecasts, to more accurately pre- dict and monitor trends.


Howdo you feel about your mo- bile phone being tracked? Email stephen@downsmail.co.uk


Summer fun


THE 2016 Rio Olympics will be the theme of Hollingbourne’s fete this sum- mer.


The village summer fete and dog


show committee has voted to make the Olympics a feature of this year’s annual event on June 11 at the Lance Memorial Playing Field – two months ahead of the event in Rio. The fete always attracts visitors from


the village’s twin town of Templeuve, although fewer are anticipated this year due to a clash with Templeuve'sWind- mill Festival. However, its Zumba dance group has promised to come.


Fly-tipping


HOLLINGBOURNE Parish Council has urged residents to report cases of fly- tipping to Maidstone Council. In the past fewweeks, a large amount


of unsightly, unhealthy rubbish was dumped close to the recycling point in Station Lane – close to a new housing development.


Castle boost


FRESH investment is being made at Leeds Castle. Improvements are being made to the kitchen that serves the visitor restau- rant and its education centre – an in- creasingly busy facility – will be doubled in size.


Maidstone East February 2016 31


Crime reports


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