Neighbourhood Watch campaign

A NEW Neighbourhood Watch campaign has been launched to counter an expected rise in burglaries as lockdown restrictions continue to ease.

A new ‘Safety in Neighbours campaign’ is designed to grab younger people’s attention and attract new members in the process.

The concept behind the campaign is that life’s safer when you know your neighbours. With more people looking out for unusual behaviour on your street, burglaries can be prevented.

It recommends the WIDE combination of security measures, which are are nearly 50 times more protected from burglary than those with no security measures.

• Window locks

• Indoor lights on a timer

• Door double or

deadlocks

• External lights on a

timer or sensor

A campaign spokesman said: “As we exit out of lockdown, more of us are leaving our homes unoccupied once again and opportunists are ready to take advantage of this. As with all types of crime, prevention is much better than cure.

“Taking simple measures such as locking windows, leaving indoor lights on a timer, double locking your doors and leaving exterior lights on a sensor setting can greatly reduce your chances of being burgled.

“Our burglary prevention pages and burglary checklist give you further advice and tools needed to protect your family and your home from thieves. Our burglary toolkit equips you to run campaigns in your community to spread the word and raise awareness of these prevention measures.”

• To find out more about

Neightbourhood Watch and/or to join visit https:// www.ourwatch.org.uk/join