Constable Andrew Jamieson, a Crime Reduction Officer for South Aberdeenshire said:

"This year's housebreaking campaign ran from 1 April 2005 to 31st March 2006. It involved Police Officers, Traffic Wardens and Special Constables identifying homes obviously vulnerable to housebreaking and leaving a leaflet for the occupant to make them aware of these concerns.

"The leaflet provides guidance for the occupant on how to reduce the risk of their property being targeted and we have concentrated our efforts during the winter and summer months when we traditionally see a rise in housebreaking due to dark nights in the winter and householders going away on holiday during the summer."

Constable Jamieson also stated:

"Previous ‘Operation Neighbourhood’ Domestic Housebreaking campaigns have been very successful, and once again the total number of reported break-ins and attempted break-ins to homes within the 2000 square miles of South Aberdeenshire was kept low.

"This year's campaign saw 109 homes the target of housebreaking or attempting housebreaking which is 27 less homes targeted than in the previous year.

"Over the past 5 years since the launch of Operation Neighbourhood, the annual figures for domestic housebreaking within South Aberdeenshire have been reduced by 60%. We appreciate that year-on-year it becomes harder to maintain the downward trend, but we thank the communities of South Aberdeenshire for their efforts in working with us, particularly the network of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes and the Aberdeenshire Community Safety Partnership."