POLICE officers in Blackwood are launching a major new initiative to target vehicle crime in the area.

This week, officers are visiting 4,000 homes in and around the town centre to give residents crime prevention packs.

This is in addition to the 10,000 homes that have already been targeted in and around the Blackwood area.

All vehicles operating out of Blackwood police station are also being fitted with UV lights, which can check that radios in vehicles stopped belong to those vehicles and are not stolen.

Officers have been in the Asda car park with the crime prevention trailer this week and were checking parked cars, targeting those that have anything valuable on display.

Advice leaflets are being left on windscreens of vehicles identified to be at risk.

Today the officers were at the Somerfield car park between 10am and 2pm and free post-coding, where radios are coded with the registration number of the vehicle it belongs to, was available.

PC Wayne Roberts, crime and disorder reduction officer at Blackwood Police Station, said: "The main aim of the week is to raise awareness of this type of crime.

"We want to make people feel safer and reduce all forms of crime. "We will be running a vehicle crime competition, with prizes, to encourage people to read the information packs and take the advice on board."

For more advice, contact PC Wayne Roberts at Blackwood Police Station on 01633 838111.