THE NEXT time you board the number eight bus to Oxford’s Barton estate you could find yourself sat next to a police community support officer.

Commuters are being targeted this week by Pcsos in a new police initiative to hand out burglary prevention advice as the evenings get darker.

Psco David Hession said buses and bus stops provided police with a good opportunity to spread crime-cutting advice.

He said: “This is a great way for us to reach a, hopefully, captive audience.

“The evenings are getting darker and it is really important for homeowners to think about how their house could appear to a burglar.”

He said staff will be advising people to buy light timer switches to make their homes look occupied when they are away.

The strategy is being tried on bus routes across Oxford until the end of tomorrow before the clocks are due to go back on Sunday.

Oxford area commander Supt Christian Bunt said: “As part of our dark night burglary campaign I would like to try something new in Oxford to help spread the crime prevention message that is so important at this time of year.

“The dark evenings are drawing in and the clocks go back on Sunday, so we would like to use this as an opportunity to encourage residents to invest in light timer switches so that their houses are not in darkness and left vulnerable to opportunist burglars.

“With the buses bringing thousands of people into the city each day we will have Pcsos from the neighbourhood teams also travelling on the buses to engage with the public, offering crime prevention advice.”

The superintendent also said Oxford police would be carrying out additional patrols in residential areas.

The Pcsos will be travelling on both Stagecoach and Oxford Bus Company buses.

Stagecoach spokeswoman Lindsay Reid last night welcomed the new tactic intrdocued by police. She said: “We are pleased to be able to assist with this Thames Valley Police campaign to give local people advice on how to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

“We believe this is a good way of delivering important information and we hope our passengers will find the leaflet useful.”

  • For further information visit http://thamesvalley.police.uk/crprev/ crprev-win.htm