Flashback – December 9

They were just the thing to ride the bad guys out of town.

West Mercia Police unveiled its new weapons to gee up its fight against car crime in Telford town centre during the festive period in December 1996.

One was Reggie, and another was Bruce, four legged warriors to help keep the public protected.

West Mercia was turning to horse power, with the introduction of mounted patrols, keeping a safe eye on shoppers' cars while the centre was at its busiest.

The campaign was backed by us, the Shropshire Star, and was a team-up with Telford Police and the town's crime prevention panel, and in partnership with West Midlands Police – which was providing the horses on loan.

From their high vantage point the mounted officers would be able to scout for wrongdoing and catch the thieves who preyed on unsuspecting shoppers during the peak festive season.

It was part of a more generalised drive to bring down levels of car crime in Telford. In November 1996 a total of 208 cars had been targeted in the wider Telford area and property had been stolen from them. That was the lowest figure since January 1995.

Inspector Trevor Davison, of Telford Police, said at the time: “This is all part of our pro-active style of policing which we introduced in this division in May.

“We are transferring the fear of crime from the victim to the criminal, and quite rightly so. It is time the gloves came off.”

Riding gloves, in this instance.

With over 100,000 cars expected to visit Telford town centre each week over the Christmas period, there were rich pickings to be had for the crooks.

Other measures to make the public feel more secure while shopping for presents included both uniformed and plain clothes officers on duty in the shopping malls and car parks at the town centre.

However, it was the mounted officers who were driving the message home in the most high profile way as they kept a watchful eye on the rows and rows of parked cars.

They were going to be a surprise too, springing up on unspecified days.

Inspector Davison again: "We are very excited by this project, which has been assisted financially by the local crime prevention panel and the Shropshire Star.

"It is high visibility policing, which the public wants, and is a very effective method of attacking the fear of crime.

"If it works here, we may look at it again and consider expanding the scheme elsewhere in the county.

"These officers will have a fantastic vantage point and will be in contact with other officers in the vicinity via their radios.

"We are very proud of the partnerships that have allowed this initiative to take off this Christmas and we just want the thieves to know that we are watching them."

The police issued a list of top tips to keep car and contents safe at Christmas, the key ones of which are of course as relevant today as they were back in 1996.

Obviously lock your car, as the first thing a thief does is try the handles. Close the windows and sunroof, and don't keep any valuables on display, as a thief who can't see anything worth taking will probably not waste time breaking in only to be empty-handed.

So, how did it all go? Unfortunately we don't have figures to hand on the car crime in Telford centre for December 1996, so we don't know to what extent this initiative reaped crimefighting rewards.

But during the festive period the sight of the horse patrols must have been at least something a bit different.