Crime warning for new students in city

Police are urging new students in Sunderland not to become victims of crime.

The weekend marked the end of the final Freshers Week with first year students moving to Sunderland and Newcastle.

Now Northumbria Police is running a Freshers Week of its own - to make sure students are keeping themselves and their property safe.

Officers will be regularly patrolling university campuses and residential areas to offer crime prevention advice and target those not showing respect to their neighbours.

Chief Inspector Dave Pickett said: “Starting university is a very exciting time for these young people, many of whom are leaving home for the first time.

“The past few weeks have seen a number of Freshers events taking place across Newcastle and down the road in Sunderland.

“But now that students are settling in to the academic year we thought it was a good time to remind people about the importance to look after themselves.

“We also want to remind students to keep their properties secure as we know that opportunist thieves will look to target student areas.

“They know that there are lots of people living under the same roof and that they all own laptops, TVs and tablets so they will be looking for insecure doors and windows..

“There is tons of information on our website about keeping yourselves and your property safe but we do also have campus police officers.

“We will patrol campus and residential areas where there is a large concentration of student homes so if you see an officer we would urge you to go and introduce yourself.

“Tell us about any issues you are experiencing and we can give advice or guidance so we can make your university experience a safe one.”