Be safe this Christmas

It seems no time at all since last Christmas. While many people are only starting their preparations for the festive season now, your Police Service started the planning process many months ago.

A series of Police operations, designed to help keep you safe as you go about your Christmas activities have already begun.

This is one of the busiest times of the year with a huge influx of people visiting our city and town centres to socialise and shop. With greater numbers of people, comes the increased risk of opportunistic criminals attempting to steal money, commit fraud and break into people homes and businesses to take goods and gifts.

Police will do as much as possible, not only make you feel safe but keep you safe. Over the next few weeks we will be prioritising patrols to keep people safe when they are out socialising, to protect homes from being targeted for burglary, to prevent motoring offences in order to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes and to detect and frustrate acts of terrorism.

The effectiveness of our operation depends on the support we receive from you all. You can help us by:

Be Safe - Protect Your Property

• Don’t leave gifts on display, and remember when you are leaving the house or going to bed to close, lock and check all your doors and windows and set your alarm
• If anyone calls at your house you are unsure of, don’t let them in – always ask for ID
• If you are going away over Christmas inform your neighbour and ask local Police to put your details in the vacant house register
• Be alert to the possibility of a thief snatching your handbag or mobile phone
• Take care when taking out cash at an ATM. Consider using your switch card to get cash back at a till
• Park in a well-lit area or an attended car park and never leave parcels or valuables in view in a car
• Call in and make sure any older relatives and neighbours are doing ok

Be Safe - Get Home Safe

• If you are going to drink alcohol, drink responsibly
• Plan your journey home in advance
• Stay in well lit, familiar areas
• Don't become separated from your friends
• Never accept a drink from someone you don't know
• Always have enough money to get yourself home

Be Safe - Never, Ever Drink and Drive

• Our message to road users is very simple. Drinking and driving kills, maims, wrecks families and communities
• Our aim is to save lives and reduce injuries
• We will have operations which will run day and night throughout the Christmas period

Together we can ensure that you have a safe, peaceful and very enjoyable Christmas.