POSTAL workers have joined forces with Hampshire Constabulary and Neighbourhood Watch to tackle crime.

Royal Mail workers have launched a new pilot scheme called Mail Watch to report suspicious incidents to police.

It is being trialled in Winchester to give more than 130 postmen and women the opportunity to report low-level crimes and liaise with Neighbourhood Watch volunteers.

Tony Marsh, director of security for Royal Mail, said: “Royal Mail postmen and women collect and deliver mail six days-a-week and have almost unrivalled knowledge of the communities they serve. We are proud to be formalising our working relationship with Hampshire Constabulary and Neighbourhood Watch through the launch of this important initiative, and look forward to playing our part in creating a safer community.”

Last year, Royal Mail partnered up with the charity Missing People to help distribute alerts about vulnerable children and adults who were missing to a ready-made database of 124,000 co-workers.

Chief Inspector Darius Hemmatpour, district commander for Winchester, said: “Mail Watch is an innovative and exciting opportunity where the Police, Neighbourhood Watch and Royal Mail are working together to ensure our communities continue to feel safe, valued and supported. By sharing information across all three organisations it will allow postmen and women to report any suspicious activity they may come across during their daily rounds whilst at the same time receiving such information from the Police and Neighbourhood Watch.

“For many years the Police have enjoyed a great working partnership with Neighbourhood Watch so it makes perfect sense to join this up with Royal Mail where often the local postie has the ear of the community. By working together we can improve the flow of information across rural communities that will enhance our local intelligence picture, enabling the police to have a greater insight into local issues whilst reducing crime and targeting those who prey on the vulnerable.”

Margaret Filley, president of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Neighbourhood Watch Association, added: “To be able to enlist and formalise the help of our local postal delivery teams, who play such an important part in our local communities, in being an extension of the Neighbourhood Watch principal of providing rapid intelligence to our Neighbourhood Policing teams will be a tremendous boost to ensuring safer communities. Working together we can all help reduce crime and opportunities for crime.”