Police officers use megaphones to alert residents if doors and windows open

Northamptonshire police are being ordered to use megaphones to shout crime prevention advice at residents who leave their doors or windows open. Officers have also been instructed to go into unlocked properties and alert homeowners to the security risk - even to the point of waking them up if they are asleep.

It is all part of a scheme that will see them patrolling the streets with the megaphones, shouting at homeowners to ensure their properties are properly protected.

The move is part of an initiative to crack down on summer burglaries, but has not gone down too well with local residents, who criticised it as patronising and intrusive.



Shirley Partridge, 75, said: "I don't want police officers coming into my house and bellowing at me with a megaphone telling me to lock my windows and doors. They wouldn't get in anyway because I am careful when I go to bed at night, all they are doing is waking my dog up and setting him off barking at all hours.

"Surely all of the criminals round here will just hear the police coming and hide until they have gone."

The scheme was dreamed up by Northamptonshire police and began two weeks ago in the Thorplands and Lumbertubs areas of Northampton, which has seen a spate of burglaries in recent weeks. Officers are patrolling residential streets bellowing: "This is the police, shut your windows and lock your doors, don't let burglars in."