A COMMUNITY campaigner concerned about crime in Harwich is calling on residents to work together with police.

Wayne Tearle of Una Road, Parkeston attended one of the new police community meetings in Dovercourt, which take place every eight weeks. The event, at the Luney Rooms in Dovercourt, saw just four residents turn up to speak with Sgt Paul Gale of Harwich Police Station.

“One of my main concerns was whether the police are doing enough to reduce crime,” Mr Tearle said.

“The meeting proved that we need to work together in reducing crime levels. This could be done by more members of the public attending the meetings every eight weeks.

"​We can only crack crime if we work together.”

Topics discussed at the meeting included an increase in burglaries in the town, fear of crime in the area, the affect of only having part-night lighting in the town and shoplifting.

They also discussed the community message system that residents can use to keep informed of what crimes are happening – the service is free and you can register online, receiving either a text or an e-mail.

  • To sign up for a free police messaging service, register at essex.police.uk/ecm or call 0161 3272616.

You can choose to receive this information via e-mail, text or voice message. You can also select what information you would like to receive – based on where you live, work, go to school or socialise, or on issues in which you may have a particular interest, such as scams, internet crime or rural crime.