Traders in east Oxford have joined together to fight crime.
The new initiative - East Oxford Shopwatch - was launched after a meeting of shopkeepers and police to address the high burglary rate.
The scheme will run along similar lines to Pubwatch, which operates in Oxford city centre and east Oxford. Landlords in the Pubwatch Scheme use pagers to warn of potentially violent or under-age customers in the area.
Members of Shopwatch will also hold meetings to decide how best to tackle problems.
Sgt Paul Church, who heads the east Oxford burglary team, said the scheme should help tackle crime. His team has already seen a significant drop in burglary since its launch in August.
Sgt Church said: "Everyone involved agreed that a successful scheme would go a long way to building effective lines of communication between traders and police."
He added that they were hopeful that more traders in east Oxford would join the scheme.
Anyone interested in signing up should call Sgt Church on 01865 335148.
Story date: Friday 03 December
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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