Gwent Police has repeated its warning to parents to be vigilant after two reports of strangers trying to coerce children to go with them in Caerphilly town.
On Wednesday, March 23, police received a call at around 2.35pm reporting that a man had knocked on the back gate of a house in Mill Road and had asked a three-year-old girl playing in a garden to go with him.
The girl’s mother was in the kitchen and heard the man, who was on the other side of the wall.
The mother went into the garden and confronted the stranger who then walked away.
Officers searched for the man but he was not found.
The incident followed a similar report from the previous day when a man tried to entice a six-year-old boy into his car on Lansbury Park.
Gwent Police said a man in a dark-coloured car had approached the boy and asked him to get in.
A spokesperson said: “We received a call reporting that at approximately 4.45pm a dark-coloured car was driving along Maxton Court in Lansbury Park and approached a six-year-old boy who was in the company of two friends. The driver reportedly asked him to get into the vehicle.
“The child didn’t get into the vehicle and the driver didn’t get out of the vehicle. No physical contact was made. The vehicle then drove off in the direction of Bedwas Road. The child was unharmed.”
Officers conducted a search for the man and the car in the local area, but neither were found.
Gwent Police have said there is nothing to suggest the two incidents are linked.
Inspector Gareth Jones said: “We are making further enquiries into these incidents and would ask the local community to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity or vehicles in the area.
“I would also like to encourage parents to take this opportunity to remind their children about stranger danger and to advise them to speak to a trusted adult if they have any concerns.”
There is a constant and ever present danger of crime, and potential crime, of all sorts in and around Caerphilly Town. Dealing with this ever present danger has not been helped by the Police and Crime Commissioner `signing off` Gwent Police reduction on Police Officers on the streets, a reduction of the number of Community Support Officers on the Streets of Caerphilly, and the `diverstion` of Community Support Officers in taking part in `other` activities other than time spent protecting the public and thier property.
The fact that Community Support Officers, and some police officers, consider it better to kick a football around, than to walk the streets of the town is adding to the ease at which criminals conduct their activities around our town, The supervisors of these staff should ensure their presence on the streets, walking and not riding around in police cars and vans, and engaging with the public and communities they are paid to serve.