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One in twelve

One in twelve
According to their own figures, police in West Sussex are only managing to solve one burglary in twelve. The West Sussex Gazette quotes the temporary chief constable as follows:

“We are taking this very seriously. I think there are two very clear reasons why this number has fallen. The first and most important is we just need to get better at investigating.”

He went on to blame a new computer system used to store data recently rolled out across the force.

The Sussex Police news isn’t all grim though: burglary victims will be pleased to learn that the force performs above average on a fifteen metre shuttle run; that a Chief Inspector has just set off for a ten day ‘fact-finding’ tour of Canadian universities; and that the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner has been busy loading unwanted bedroom furniture into the back of a van.

Botany surveys

Wild flowers on chalk grassland
Wild flowers on chalk grassland
From 10:00am–12:30pm on Friday 13th June and 6:00–8:30pm on Thursday 17th July. Help with an ongoing monitoring project by getting involved in a botany survey of the chalk grassland outside Steyning. All levels of experience welcomed, including beginners at wild flower identification. Bring a packed meal if you want to stay on for a picnic after the survey. Meet at the log pile on the Rifle Range, Steyning [Map Ref: TQ 168,113]. Free event.

Please contact Petra Billings via petra.billings@btopenworld.com for further details.

European Election results

European Election results
The Mid Sussex counts for the five parties that got at least one thousand votes each were as follows:

  1. Conservative Party – 13,270 votes
  2. UK Independence Party (UKIP) – 11,935 votes
  3. Labour Party – 3,833 votes
  4. Green Party – 3,584 votes
  5. Liberal Democrats – 3,240 votes

Mid Sussex is part of the South East of England region in the UK, which will be represented by ten MEPS: 4 UKIP, 3 Conservative, 1 Labour, 1 Green and 1 LibDem.

Rave off

Broken glass
The Argus reports on the National Trust struggle to restore the status quo ante bellum:

More than 2,000 ravers attended leaving rubbish, including smashed bottles, beer cases, clothing and gas canisters strewn across the site after they partied for more than 24 hours. Volunteers helped to clear about 250 bags of waste ..

Charlie Cain, head ranger of the Devil’s Dyke estate, said [that] .. there is broken glass all over the Downs that is going to cause problems for years.

Elsewhere, the head ranger said:

The mess left behind after [the] rave at Devil’s Dyke was terrible. Fences and gates were cut and cattle had been separated from their water supply.

Updated 2nd June.