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Royal Mail: Posties told to double up and report on low-level crime

POSTIES are now being told to report crimes while doing their rounds, writes Alana MacAskill.

To fill in the gap left by the disappearance of beat bobbies due to Tory cuts, Royal Mail has agreed to put more than 130 postmen and women in Winchester and Hampshire on its trial Mail Watch initiative. Workers will be expected to report low-level crime or suspicious incidents to the police.

A spokesman for the Communication Workers Union said: “The safety of postal workers and their ability to carry out the day job is our first priority. However, we are tentatively supportive of the trial as it’s in everyone’s interest to reduce crime within the community that our members serve.”

But the police have spoken of the effects of austerity cuts. Police Force of England and Wales (PFEW) chairman Steve White said: “A generation of young people is growing up never seeing their local police unless they are unfortunate enough to experience a serious crime.”

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