Register your valuables - it’s quick and easy

WITH Christmas over opportunist thieves will be out and about trying to get their hands on gifts and electrical equipment bought over the festive season.

Now is the time to safeguard property and Cambridgeshire Police has joined a new initative aimed at reducing theft of valuables..

Immobilise is a secure database service which allows you to register your mobile phones, lap tops, ipods, sat navs, in-car music systems, cycles (frame numbers) or any other valuables that have a unique serial number.

Registering is free, quick and easy. Once a phone is registered, should the phone be lost or stolen, it can be reported online and the phone immobilised immediately by all service providers.

It also enables police officers to search the database for the rightful owner of any recovered property and quickly re-unite them with their property.

Ellen Muirhead of Cambridgeshire Police said: "The use of this database is an excellent tool in fighting robbery as it takes the value out of anything stolen. We would therefore encourage people to log on to the site and register their property."

Other forces using the scheme have significantly reduced the false reporting of theft and street robbery for phones.

The service is supported by, amongst others, The Home Office, www.micaf.co.uk

The Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum www.met.police.uk/campaigns/call_time.htm

The Metropolitan Police www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/press-releases/press-releases-content.asp?prID=546

Transport For London, www.met.police.uk/mobilephone

The National Mobile Phone Crime Unit, and almost all the major UK Police forces.

Anyone wishing to enter the details of their mobile phone, or other property, onto the database should log on to www.immobilise.com for more information. To find your unique mobile IMEI number just enter *#06# into the phone and the number will appear.