TIM DREW: Volunteers can help the police to prevent crime

Operation Tulip is the annual campaign aimed at advising the public of the risks of seasonal break-ins and criminality involving the theft of garden machinery, usually from sheds and outbuildings.

For several years, Neighbourhood Watch volunteers have assisted the police at garden centres and elsewhere in furnishing advice and distributing leaflets, advising the public to take precautions to secure and mark their equipment and to note the registration numbers of more expensive machinery.

During these times of spending cuts, the police have enormously valued our attendance and assistance but, more importantly, members have made a real contribution to the security of local residents and have minimised the incidence of crime and its consequences through their actions.

These events are supervised by the police and volunteers require no specialist knowledge.

All those taking part have remarked as to how much they have enjoyed the day and how much satisfaction volunteering in the community has brought them, not least because they appreciate that, by their actions, they may well have prevented a considerable degree of upset by making it less easy for criminals to strike.

Those co-ordinators registered on ALERT will already have received a message to this effect, but we are asking them to spread the word among their members, as volunteers have been in short supply of late and if they could put in just an hour or two, that would make a big difference.

The Town Central Neighbourhood Police Meeting will take place this evening at the Ardington Hotel, Steyne Gardens at 6.30pm and the next Neighbourhood Watch Town Centre event will be in Montague Place on Saturday between 10am to 4pm.

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