Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 09:07 AM

Dogs and their owners – Over the Christmas holiday I took a walk from Weybridge on the Thames to Godalming in Surrey, following the towpath of the Wey navigation. During the course of the walk I became a little annoyed with dogs, or perhaps I should more accurately say with their owners. Several things caused this, firstly not everyone is happy to have large salivating dogs running towards them barking, not everyone is happy to be jumped up at and have the resulting mud and muck all over their clothes. Then there was the young family with two small children, one of whom fell over and ended up in a pile of dog mess, which got in his hair and all over his hands. On my way home that evening I called into see some friends who were bemoaning the fact that their son had ended up in a similar pile while playing rugby on a school playing field.
On returning to work several days later I found myself dealing with an incident of livestock worrying by dogs, which left six sheep dead.
Responsibility among some dog owners seems to be an issue, lets hope a more responsible attitude will evolve. Perhaps it could be a new years resolution.
Now to move onto something else – for those of you who live in Borough Green and Platt you may have been aware of a number of house Burglaries in the run up to Christmas. A couple of offenders were caught making off from a burglary in West Malling and at the time of writing this article, one has been charged with burglary with a further 18 offences to be taken into consideration. These offences were committed in Borough Green, Platt, West Malling and the Sevenoaks areas. He was not a local man and should now be out of circulation for a number of years. Great news to start off the new year.

Antony Wiles PC8024 – Borough Green
8024@kent.pnn.police.uk