At their evening meeting on 25 October 2012, the Probus Club of Basingstoke had as their guest speaker Simon Wright who is in his twenty fourth year as a serving officer in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary. These days his main role is that of coordinator of Crimestoppers & Most Wanted in Hampshire and across other local authorities in the south including the Channel Isles.
While most have heard of Crimestoppers and have seen their prominent phone number 0800 555 111 not many people know that it is a charity funded in the main by large companies and is operated by a group of volunteers. The main activity of this team is to take confidential phone calls from the public who want to report any matter that they consider will be of interest to the police; all done with complete anonymity.
The Most Wanted section is based in the Crimestoppers web site where photographs or E-fits of people that are of interest to the police are displayed. This information is updated daily and it is encouraging to see the increasing success of this operation where, in our county alone, they will receive six phone calls and make two arrests on an average day.
As well as a lunch on the second Tuesday of most months and the speaker meeting in the evening of the fourth Thursday the Probus Club of Basingstoke have social events and trips that involve members’ wives. If you are a retired professional or business executive and would like to know more then contact the Secretary, Bryan Harvey either by email bryanharvey@talktalk.net or telephone 01256 321473 for an informal discussion.
Probus Club of Basingstoke 