SHOPPERS venturing into Durham City to their Christmas shopping will be able to get their children involved in a bear hunt.

Police in the city have launching a Safe City Christmas Bear Hunt as part of the Safe City initiative.

A total of 115 teddy bears are being hidden in various shop and cafe windows across the city centre and will be wearing a red, yellow, blue or green sash, each of which represents a key safety message.

Red means “Say ‘No’ to strangers”, yellow means “Use the boot for your Christmas loot!” blue means “Don’t give burglars the chance to steal your gifts at home” and green means “Keep Durham City tidy”.

PCSO Leesa Bennison from the Neighbourhood Policing Team in Durham City said: “The idea is that people, particularly children, will get involved to hunt for the Safe City Bears and every time they find one they will be reminded of the safety message that particular bear is representing.

“It’s a great way to keep the kids busy over the festive period as well as educating them with key safety messages.”

The person who finds the most bears will get a gift voucher for the store of their choice. The free bear hunt kicks runs until January 7.

The winner will be announced on January 11, with prizes for the winner and two runners-up.

All people need to do to get involved is to get an application form, which will be made available at a number of locations across the city centre.

A Safe City Bear Twitter account is up and running and the Safe City Bear regularly tweets to provide clues and updates on how the hunt is going DurhamSafeCityBear - @SafeCityBear.