MERKINCH folk could help themselves by helping the police to cut down crime in the area. Outgoing Inverness police chief Ramsay McGhee is keen to see a two-way flow of information between the police and the public in an effort to see off the elements which can make many people’s lives a misery.

One way this can be achieved is by participating in Neighbourhood Watch schemes. These have proved highly successful in other parts of the town – indeed Inverness Area has 16 such groups operating, mostly in the town centre and Scorguie.

“We’re not trying to recruit people to go out and spy or to act as vigilantes. It just means that if anyone sees anything that makes them suspicious as they are going about their business, then they can contact their coordinator who will pass the information on. “Likewise, it is a duty of the police to pass back out to coordinators any information for the public.

“For instance, say there were bogus workmen in the area. Someone might have noticed a particular vehicle in the area that might be associated with them… Any information comes to us through the coordinator and we check it out and warn … The system feeds information back and forth. It is anonymous – there would be no stickers on individuals’ windows, though perhaps there could be on lampposts.

“Our Crime Prevention Officer Euan MacKeachen is already exploring the possibilities and has started talking to various people in the Merkinch area. We would be looking at several groups in Merkinch to be effective – what we need is volunteers to help make it work.”

The Northern Constabulary hope to put in a bid to the Scottish Executive for a Ringmaster telephone system which would help dispense information to Neighbourhood Watch Scheme participants without an officer spending half the day trying to ring coordinators.