Hello again. I want to concentrate this month on burglary. This is a horrid crime, as anyone who has been a victim will be able to testify. We all value the shelter and comfort that our homes offer us and our homes tend to be our biggest investment and

Hello again. I want to concentrate this month on burglary. This is a horrid crime, as anyone who has been a victim will be able to testify.

We all value the shelter and comfort that our homes offer us and our homes tend to be our biggest investment and our place of comfort at the end of the working day.

We, at Brent police, are determined to make life extremely difficult for those in the community that want to burgle others and that think they have a right to enter a property and steal from the owner.

We will not tolerate this crime and we will do everything we possibly can to bring those people to justice.

We have made a huge effort this year to stop burglars, continuously making life difficult for anyone thinking of committing this crime. Using stop and search powers we target known burglars, and in 2009 we made more than 300 burglary arrests.

We make it difficult for them to have a chance to commit this crime, we want them to stop and we do this by targeting them at every opportunity and we even visit them at their homes to get the message across.

We have a fantastic team of forensic experts in this borough and we will do everything possible to maximise the opportunity to get forensic evidence from our crime scenes and from those that are being arrested.

Once we have identified a person responsible we will do everything in our power to arrest that person immediately and within 24-hours of that identification. The Safer Neighbourhoods teams are visiting every home in two streets each week in their wards, introducing themselves and giving crime prevention advice. We want you to get to know who your local community officers are and get you talking to each other.

We support our Neighbourhood Watches who are committed to looking after their streets and their neighbours, if you want to set up a local Neighbourhood Watch in your area contact our local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, Sergeant Steve Linton on 020 8733 3923.

On March 13 of this year, we will be holding an 'Aladdin's Cave' event at Brent Town Hall. We will be displaying property that we have seized from persons arrested but where we have not been able to trace the owner. We want to reunite people with their precious belongings.

We will also use this event to celebrate our successes in driving down the burglary rate and making Brent a safer place to work and live.

Can I ask you all to help me in beating the burglar by properly locking your doors and windows each time you go out and at night. Don't leave valuables lying around in view, especially car keys; consider taking these up to bed at night.

Please use lighting where you can to deter would be thieves and please don't leave tools and ladders out that can be used against your homes. Remember to lock these away in your sheds and garages if you have them.

Lastly and most importantly, I ask for your help in reporting any suspicious behaviour to the police, such as unknown visitors knocking at your door or your neighbour's door, that makes you suspicious.

If you are in any doubt then please ring 999 and give my officers the chance to catch these people in the act. Don't be afraid to call, if it doesn't look right, please call us. Lastly can I ask that you look after each other, keep an eye out for your neighbours and help keep them safe.

Join me in the determined effort to rid Brent of burglary and those individuals that commit this horrid crime.

Keep your eyes peeled and look out for my column next month.

Chief Inspector Ian Vincent, Brent Police Safer Neighbourhoods