"Out of Sight is Safer"

HARINGEY police have launched a new campaign in a bid to cut down on the number of mobile phone thefts.

"Out of Sight is Safer" is the message officers will be drumming home to people through a new advertising campaign set to be launched in the borough next week.

"Our advice is don't use your mobile phone when coming out of a train or Tube station. It's very easy to become engrossed in conversation, listening to a message or sending a text and you are oblivious to what is happening around you," said Gold Commander for Operation Safer Streets Bob Quick.

He added: "Train and Tube stations are often robbery hotspots where potential victims can be targeted by robbers and then followed and robbed some distance away from the station. Trains and buses are also used by robbers as a means of getting away from the scene of a robbery."

The campaign coincides with joint operations between the police and British Transport Police to cut robberies in and around train and Underground stations.

Commander Quick said: "Through Operation Safer Streets we have seen a strong downturn in the numbers of street crimes but we are not complacent and we will be keeping up the pressure right across London. The new focused operations with the British Transport Police will help us tackle the more persistent hotspot areas around stations."

Between July and October the Met recorded 1,075 allegations of street crime at or near stations in the 15 Safer Streets boroughs, which include Haringey.

In 36 per cent of all street robberies the only item of property stolen is a mobile phone.

16:54 Friday 1st November 2002

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