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THE new Northamptonshire Police text line is now open to mobile phone users who have information about who is committing burglary in the county.

The SMS contact number has been launched as the cornerstone of the Force’s anti-burglary campaign and is a handy way for anyone on the move to send information about criminal activity that they see or that they are aware of.

If you have information that you think the police should know about, simply text ‘BUSTED’ a space and then your message to the number 88010.

It is the first time that the text message is being used as part of a major campaign to ‘put the breaks on burglary’. Other forms of contact also being promoted include phoning and emailing.

The information is fed through to the Force Intelligence Bureau from where it is forwarded to the relevant officer or policing team for action.

Deputy Chief Constable Davina Logan hopes that by this popular communication method the Force will reach more people and encourage them to pass on what they know.

She said: “Intelligence is the lifeblood of crime fighting. Sometimes a scrap of information on its own is not enough to be the basis for taking a case forward but if you are able put a lot of scraps of information together it can lead to impressive results.

“We want to make as many avenues of communication open to the general public and I hope that text messaging, which is particularly popular amongst youngsters, will encourage more and more young people to report any information about who is committing burglaries in their community.”
The burglary campaign is backed by Northamptonshire Crimestoppers, who provide a confidential telephone line (0800 555111) for providing information and intelligence to the Police.

A special email form for intelligence and information is available through the Force website at www.northants.police.uk.

The campaign is using bus advertising, newspaper advertising, posters, billboards and the website to support the key message that people with information can help to put the breaks on burglary by telling the police if they know anything at all about this time of crime.

This might include information about who is responsible for burglary, who is involved in handling stolen property and who is living beyond their apparent means.