Shed break-ins have also risen 171,000 in 12 months.

One neighbourhood watch leader warned offences, especially shed thefts, are likely to rise further as the weather improves.

Separate police recorded crime show sex offences increased by seven per cent sparking fears changing lifestyles and binge-drinking is fueling more sexual assaults.

For all other offences, the Home Office figures showed a fall in overall crime but one victims group warned against complacency.

Police have previously warned that the fall out of the economic downturn could see a rise in so-called acquisitive crime.

While the recession crime-wave never materialised, the latest figures suggest criminals are shifting their focus to homes and property.

Burglaries increased by nine per cent to 710,000 offences in the 12 months to September, according to BCS, which questions more than 45,000 people. That is the equivalent of more than one a minute.

Thefts from sheds and gardens increased by 16 per cent to 1.25 million crimes over the same period and bicycle thefts increased three per cent.

The separate police recorded crime showed a seven per cent fall in burglary for the same year but Roy Rudham, the chairman of the UK Neighborhood Watch Trust, said the BCS was more reflective of the true picture because people tend to only report crimes if they are going to claim on the insurance.

He added: “It is a cause for concern and is it worrying that people do not have the confidence to report to the police.”

Total BCS crime fell by less than one per cent while overall police recorded crime was down five per cent to 9.4 million offences.

All categories of recorded crime were down except sexual offences, which increased by seven per cent to 5,169.

Officials said the rise could be due to better action by the police to combat the known high levels of under-reporting of such offences.

But David Green, director of the think-tank Civitas, said changes in people’s behaviour, such as increasing alcohol consumption could also be driving up sexual offending.

Chief Constable Keith Bristow, head of crime for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “Nationally, we have been working to improve all areas of sex offence investigation, with a particular emphasis on rape in domestic abuse cases.”

“We remain determined to bring to justice people who commit sexual offences and we are making significant progress in this critical area, particularly around giving victims confidence to come forward and report these crimes and we need them to do so.”

Separate figures showed the number of homicides, which includes murder, manslaughter and infanticide, fell by four per cent to 619 in the year to the end of April 2010, the lowest number since 1997/98 when 606 were recorded.

A third of fatalities involved a sharp instrument, with the number of such offences falling from 255 in 2008/09 to 210 in 2009/10.

But the number of homicides from shootings rose to 41 from 38 the previous year.

Javed Khan, chief executive of Victim Support, warned against complacency, adding: “Over 50 per cent of crime still goes unreported and one in five is still at risk of being a victim of crime.

“Added to this, you have crime against individuals and households costing a massive £34 billion a year.”

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said: “Any reductions in crime are welcome, however levels are still too high and we know these statistics only offer a partial picture about the level of crime.”

By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor Daily Telegraph

A company creating longer lasting rechargeable batteries is hoping its silicon anode technology will contribute to a new UK manufacturing sector.

Nexeon, a spinout of Imperial College London, has developed production methods for its lithium ion batteries at a new pilot plant in Oxfordshire with the aim of keeping costs equal to those conventional carbon anodes.

The technology will allow batteries to hold 10 times the charge of other models because silicon anodes can hold more lithium ions than carbon ones and could be used in electric vehicles or consumer electronics.

However the previous attempts to use silicon have suffered because the connections between atoms break down through repeated charging, leaving isolated regions of material.

Nexeon’s design involves the creation of a structure of tiny inter woven strands of silicon, one fifth of a micron in diameter, which prevents the material degrading in the same way.

“If one connection is broken there are a million others so you don’t get the cracking up”, said Imperial’s Prof Mino Green, inventor of the technology and Nexeon’s chief scientific officer.

To create the strands, tiny hemispheres of silver are deposited on particles of silicon and hydrofluoric acid is used to etch down through the remaining exposed silicon, leaving a structure resembling a hedgehog.

The strands are then broken off and used to create the anode while 99.8 per cent of the silver is recovered and recycled using nitric acid. The new pilot plant at Culham near Oxford, can produce one million of the 18650-type battery cells annually.

Nexeon had to design low cost production facilities that could cope with pumping highly corrosive hydrofluoric acid around.

Engineering and operations director Ian McDonad said: “ we thought about costs from the beginning – we didn’t want to try to reduce costs at a later stage”.

Expanding Nexeon’s facilities could help the growth of battery production in the UK, said chief executive officer Scott Brown.

“we are in a dialogue with several major battery manufacturers and EV manufacturers and some are already evaluating the material”, he said.

“It means we won’t be shipping battery parts from Asia for EV’s. It might be a natural progression for manufacturing in the UK within three or four years’ time”.

BY STEPHEN HARRIS

The Engineer

A new system of electronics tagging could improve shop inventory and security systems without invading customers’ privacy, its inventors claim.

Hertfordshire based friendly technologies (FTL) has developed a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that allows shops to instantly work out if any items are missing from their store and when they disappeared.

Unlike other RFID systems, FTL’s tags don’t hold information about the item itself and so off the shelf RFID readers cannot be used to work out what is in a person’s shopping bag or what items they have in their home.

“Our technology is cheaper, simpler and comes with all the benefits of RFID but without the security issues”, FTL managing director Humberto Moran told the Engineer Magazine.

The system works by effectively taking a register of the shop’s inventory, scanning 600 times every second and asking the tag to confirm whether or not it is a specific product rather than asking it to provide details.

Each tag consists of a tiny silicon chip and an antenna to receive and transmit signals and power. They cost about £0.07 each to produce and can be read within a distance of 4m.

Because the system is constantly scanning items, if a product is thought to be missing there will be a record of the exact time it disappeared from the shelves.

The technology can also link to a computer screen that automatically detects when a shipper has picked a product up off the shelf and provides information about the item such as cost, availability and similar products.

The technology was initially researched with a feasibility grant from the Scottish government and FTL hopes to have the product commercially available within six months.

BY STEPHEN HARRIS

The Engineer

By Shane Richmond, Head of Technology

Depending on how ‘smart’ your mobile phone is, it could be your music player, camera, calendar, contacts book and perhaps even a games machine. How would you feel about it becoming your credit card too?

That’s the possibility offered by Google’s next handset, known as the Nexus S, which includes a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip. Showing off the new handset in San Francisco this week, Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, said: “This could replace your credit card. The reason this NFC chip is so interesting is because the credit card industry thinks the loss rate is going to be much better, they’re just more secure.”

NFC could replace your whole wallet, not just your credit card. It could act as your train ticket, your office security pass and even as an electronic door key. Google has built NFC support into ‘Gingerbread’, the next version of its Android mobile operating system. Because Android is an open platform, any manufacturer that makes phones with NFC chips built in will be able to use Google’s software.

NFC has been around for quite some time. It was first approved as a standard in 2003 and several manufacturers, including Nokia and Samsung, have already made NFC handsets. In Japan it’s a very common payment method but it has yet to gain a foothold in Europe or the USA. Having Android support should accelerate the process. If Apple adds an NFC chip to the next iPhone – and rumours suggest that it will – then momentum should build even further.

But will people be willing to make the switch? Ed Lea, chief technology officer at mobile application company Grapple, thinks that they will, thanks to their familiarity with mobile commerce through services like music and app downloads. He says: “People are starting to get comfortable with using their mobile phone to make payments for all kinds of things.”

Despite that, many people will be concerned. What happens, for example, if the phone is lost or stolen. In some ways, Lea points out, the situation is simpler. At the moment, losing your wallet means a phone call to cancel each card that you’ve lost. If your phone is your wallet then you should be able to call your mobile provider and have the NFC chip switched off.

“There may be some security concerns,” says Howard Wilcox, senior analyst at Juniper Research, “but the onus is on companies to reassure people.”

A recent forecast by Juniper suggested that one in six people will be using NFC by 2014. Wilcox says there are clear benefits: “The overriding benefit of NFC is going to be the convenience of being able to swipe your phone across a reader.”

That will mean shorter queues for customers and reduced cash-handling for retailers, which makes them less likely to lose money through error or theft.

Like many banks, Barclays has been issuing cards with ‘contactless’ payment chips in them for some time. Earlier this month it reported more than a million contactless transactions so far this year and said that there are 42,500 payment terminals across the UK. It’s not a lot but it’s a start.

Those numbers will increase once every phone comes with an NFC chip. Even those with an older handset can use the system if they add an NFC chip in a memory card or even on a sticker that can be attached to the back of the phone.

You’ll need to carry that wallet for a while yet but the day when you can leave it at home is drawing closer.

Card holders enjoy a range of discounts in shops, restaurants, beauty and hair salons. It also gives discount admissions to attractions including FREE entry to Chester Cathedral.

Card holders can receive a monthly e-newsletter with exclusive access to fantastic competitions with great prizes to be won plus details of the latest Charisma businesses and offers.

A big bonus for Charisma cardholders is that they get a FREE car parking pass for cut-price parking in 6 Chester city-center car parks.

Why am i telling you this? its because we are offering all Charisma card holders a FREE Home Security and Alarm Health Check we are also giving a massive 20% discount to all OAPs, and their friends and relatives who are purchasing on their behalf, valid until 2011.

As many of you reading this will not have a Charisma Card we will extend the OAP discount offer to all our readers until 2011, just mention this article when you contact us.

The company, a Siemens subsidiary, says the sleep alert technology incorporates a camera and CMOS sensor that would be fitted in the driver’s field of vision.

Unbeknown to the driver, the sensor detects IR light at a wave length of 850 nanometers, which isn’t visible to the human eye, and analyzes the image of the driver that is captured by the camera.

Marion Reichl, a spokeswoman for Osram Opto Semiconductors, said the aim of the system is to detect how often the driver opens and closes his or her eyes. Image-analysis software will determine if the driver is fatigued or distracted. Reichl explained:

“The system can decide when a driver is going into a dangerous area and then, depending on the manufacturer, do some kind of wake-up call so the driver awakens”.

Osram Opto Semiconductors developed the SFK4236 type LED light source, which has a small integrated lens with a 40° angle of illumination. This allows it to be installed on the dashboard of a vehicle, for example, and directly illuminate the driver from the front, without producing shadows.

The company said that its high performance IR-LEDs could find other applications into motor vehicles, including night vision systems, short range surroundings detection and monitoring blind spots.

The Company added the IR-LED has a duration of tens of thousands of hours, meaning it is likely that it will not have to be replaced during the average life of a vehicle.

Reichl said that Osram is currently looking for customers to package the LED into a vehicle.

Written by Siobhan Wagner

Article taken from The Engineer 1 November 2010

Using CCTV in neighbour disputes is on the increase and as long as a simple rule is followed the use of CCTV in a domestic setting is perfectly legal.

However……………

Using CCTV can sometimes cause more trouble than the benefits it brings you in these situations and we would always recommend that other methods of resolving the situation are tried first. “Hang on”, I hear you say, “don’t you sell CCTV?” yes we do and we will gladly advise and recommend the equipment you need for your environment and situation. Again, we always recommend you explore other means of resolving the problem and there is a wealth of information and more importantly help available to you, a good place to start would be www.problemneighbours.co.uk this site is very informative, very  supportive and written in plain English.

I mentioned that the rule is simple regarding the use of CCTV in a domestic environment and it is; don’t position your cameras so they can record your neighbour’s property. If it is pointing at their property it can be argued that the positioning of your camera is violating their privacy and this is covered by the Human Rights Act, the Police can also be called if your neighbour claims the camera is being used for Voyeurism. Statements to the Police along the lines of; “Voyeurism? Have you seen my neighbours?!” will not help your situation.

Options on installing a system to make sure you don’t fall foul of any Acts or Laws would be

a)      A Professional installer, always get three quotes and personal recommendations if possible.

b)      DIY, choose a Digital Video Recorder or Camera with Privacy Masking option

Option a) is self-explanatory and it would be nice if we were one of the three asked to quote, testimonials available on request. (I also get a pat on the back if you mention this article)

Option b) Privacy Masking, this is a feature on some Digital recorders and some cameras that allow you to blank out part of the image like this before and after picture.

As you can see this allows you to view, as in this example, the whole of your fence line while maintaining the privacy of your neighbour. If your neighbour ever questioned the view of the camera direct them to this web page so they can see how privacy masking works. I would not show a printed picture of what the camera can see and I am pretty certain you will not be inviting them in to see the live images. You do not want your neighbour to see the images because they may exploit any areas that the camera does not cover. If the Police are called you can show them the live images and the recorded images to prove that there is no voyeurism involved and they can pass this information on to the neighbours.

I am sorry that you are having problems with your mad neighbour from hell and if you still feel that CCTV will help you please do not hesitate to contact us for Free advice.

For installations click Here and for sales click Here

Now i know what your thinking, its only an ice cream, but its the principal that matters and the fact that i am getting the run around off my nearest and dearest, the very people i should be able to trust the most (ok maybe not the most seeing as 2 of them are below the age of criminal responsibility, but you get my drift) and being a sensitive kind of guy, this hurts. Time i think to get to the bottom of this, so its a trip to work to pick up a piece of equipment that is going to help me gather the required evidence and also a trip to the shops to pick up some more bait Magnums (Almond in case you were wondering).

Before i go any further i would just like to say that using a covert camera like this one to spy on people may be illegal and i have written this article as a guide, with links to further information to help you decide when and where you are not allowed to use something like this.

The biggest danger with using covert in a personal setting is the recorded audio or more importantly what you may hear on the recorded audio. This can range from the not so bad “yes, i think your right, he is putting weight on” to the slightly worse “There’s a little blue pill you can get him you know” to the devastating “you can call around now, he has gone to work” so be warned.

please note that i only quoted the preceding statements as an example and i am not getting fat.

The scene is set and i have chosen the location for my evidence gathering device (my spy pen) and shouted that i am going to take the dog for a walk and that i would be an hour or so as there is a new Poodle in the area that the dog as expressed an interest in. I have not issued any threats regarding the consequences of anyone touching my; with an emphatic my, Magnums (other dairy products are available,  for example MaxiBons) but i did make sure all suspects were aware of the newly purchased items when i brought them in earlier.

The dog and i had a pleasant walk and the Poodle seemed to meet with his approval  and sticks were exchanged before making our way back home.

Was the trap sprung? Did we catch the culprit? What did the audio tell me about the state of my relationship? find out in my next posting.

Now i am not saying it would be nice to spy on the fridge to see who the perpetrators of this heinous crime are, but lets face it, you wouldn’t say no if someone gave you a video of who did this would you?

Gran: “A nice young man telephoned from the Crime Prevention something or other and said i was entitled to a free house alarm and could someone call me to talk about it”

Me: “The crime prevention what?”

Gran: “something, you know what i’m like with names. Anyway do you want me to tell you or not?!”

Me: “OK keep your big knickers on.”

Gran: “Your not too big to put over my knee you cheeky bugger!…..SO, a nice young lady rang about 10 minutes later, I know it was 10 minutes because I put the kettle on after the first call and it had just boiled and you know how long that takes to boil even though someone not so far away said they’d look at it for me” (looks over glasses at me and purses lips) “ she said a researcher from the crime prevention whatsit said I was interested in the free alarm and that i was one of only 4 people in the area who was entitled to an alarm for £1..”

Me: “I thought you said it was free!”

Gran: “I am just telling you what she said; and all I would have to pay is a one off fee for monitoring”

Me: “I thought you said it was free, and did she say which company she was with Gran?”

Gran: “Yes, SAS alarms I remember the name because your uncle John; you remember your uncle John don’t you;? was in the SAS and that’s why i remember the name”

Me: “you didn’t agree to anything did you Gran?!”

Gran: “No, i told them my Grandson; who hardly calls (looks over glasses and purse lips, again) is fitting one for me when he remembers where i live………”

The conversation carried on for quite some time after this and in between waiting for the kettle to boil (which I never said I would look at) and various admonishments ,I got the rest of the story.

As this sounded a bit suspect I did a little bit of research and found quite a bit about SAS alarms and their apparent targeting of OAPs, in fact if you put SAS alarms into Google all the first page results are complaints about the company and their working practices, this is just one of the articles. Daily Record

It appears that the free alarm is just a ploy to gain entry and then hard sell a charge for monitoring the alarm of approximately £3,000 – £9,000 to be paid in advance.

So, seeing as it is against the law to do what we would like to do to these so called “people” I have put together some information on helping to keep your Gran, Granddad or anyone you care about safe, called “How Safe is your Granny?”