CRIME-FIGHTING villagers have teamed up with police to launch a festive crackdown on burglars.

People living in three North Yorkshire villages will go out on high-profile foot patrols to try to deter criminals.

Residents of Huby, Stillington and Sutton-on-the-Forest, all near York, will be involved in Operation Edition, which began on Monday and will run until next Friday.

Each night, two shifts of six Neighbourhood Watch members will patrol the villages and report any suspicious activity via police radios. They will be supported by local officers, who will patrol the area separately.

Sergeant Roy Jakins, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "The watch teams are quite clear that their job is to make high-visibility patrols - to deter criminals - and to report anything suspicious to the police.

"They are not going out there to tackle the criminals themselves. Officers will be close at hand, with back-up available if necessary."

The main objective of the operation is to deter early evening burglars, who go to rural areas looking for Christmas presents in houses where the occupiers have not arrived home.

Sgt Jakins said: "Last year, we ran a similar scheme in Sutton-on-the-Forest and it was a spectacular success. Quite simply, there were no crimes during the times the patrols were out. It will be a huge boost for crime-fighting if we can repeat that success across an even wider area."

He also paid tribute to the public-spirited residents of the three villages. "I think it is a marvellous demonstration of the way the people of this county will make the extra effort to support the police and to work together to look after their communities," he said.