Police officers have targeted criminals, worked with partner agencies and enforced home closures to tackle crime in Wokingham.
The Norreys estate is near the town centre and is a place where thousands of residents live. The area has been identified by Thames Valley Police as an area of increased activity.
The work officers have been doing to tackle crime was presented at a Wokingham Borough Council meeting.
Felicity Parker, the local command unit commander for Berkshire West, the policing area Wokingham falls within, stated officers have worked to protect vulnerable residents from ‘cuckooing’.
This term, used by police, involves criminal individuals or gangs taking over a person’s home to use it as a base for illegal activities, such as dealing drugs, storing weapons, or sex work.
Chief superintendent Parker said: “We’ve done some excellent work. Initially, we have scoped to see which individuals we felt were at risk and we highlighted 24 people who we felt were being exploited, cuckooed, involved in drug offences, were victims and offenders of violent offences and we have done an awful lot of positive intervention in partnership around that.
“Now what’s really important is that my neighbourhood teams are well connected, so that we know what the right outcome is and we use the support that is available, whether it’s mental health, physical health, drug support, support for domestic abuse, housing etc so we can make sure that we are trying to make some difference in the long term and I believe we’ve really worked well in the Norreys estate in able to do that.
“From our point of view, we are the police, we are here to use our powers and investigate, and we have in the Norrey estate had 96 successful charges, with seven prolific offenders involved in that.”
Mohamed Khan, 41, from Wokingham, was jailed after admitting to the supply of crack cocaine and heroin at Reading Crown Court on December 1, 2025.
Additionally, police have enforced closure orders on properties under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which can lead to the eviction of a tenant for breaches and prevent non-residents from attending a property.
Police enacted a three-month closure order for a property in Long’s Way in the estate following reports of anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in February last year.
Chief Superintendent Parker said: “We’ve also used our powers to close certain addresses as well, and 12 people are currently in prison for some of the crimes that they’ve been committing in that area.
“We made lots of referrals for different services, and rehousing has happened.”
Rehousing is the responsibility of the borough council.
Officers are also working in partnership with community mental health teams (CMHT) and drug and alcohol addiction charities.
The presentation was given at a full meeting of Wokingham borough council on November 27, 2025.
