STUDENTS armed with crime prevention advice were due to walk the beat with police today as part of a campaign to reduce burglaries.

The University of Nottingham volunteers, dubbed “student ambassadors”, will be knocking on doors in Lenton and Canning Circus along with police and police community support officers.

Four student ambassadors, accompanied by an officer, will target area’s of Nottingham populated with students and offer simple home security tips, such as closing doors, shutting windows and storing valuables out of sight.

Residents will also be advised to visit the crime prevention website, www.easily-done.co.uk, Locksmart-uk.com and crime prevention leaflets will be left at unanswered homes.

Students will also be offered free SmartWater, a property-marking device, and given free registration to the immobilise database, which allows stolen property to be easily returned if recovered.

Local locksmith Mark Hayes of 24hourlocksmithsnottingham.co.uk based in the lenton area said

“We’re hoping that by offering some simple advice we can help more students take responsibility for their possessions and make sure they don’t give burglars a chance.”

Since 2003, police and partners have been running Operation Country, an initiative tackling burglary in Lenton, Radford and Canning Circus.

In this time the number of student burglaries has steadily fallen and between 2007/08 and 2008/09 there was a 59 per cent fall in break-ins.

Throughout the academic year, police analyse intelligence to identify vulnerable areas and use both overt and covert tactics to deter burglaries and catch offenders.

Canning Circus Inspector Anwaar Ahmed said: “This fall in crime is the result of good police operations and excellent partnership work.”