NEIGHBOURHOOD Watch in North Cornwall (which covers the East Cornwall area) is taking a leap into the 21st century with the launch of its new Facebook and Twitter pages.

Covering the areas of Launceston, Bude, Camelford, Callington and the parishes in-between, the pages aim to bring regular updates to local residents and make sharing information easier.

They will also serve as a platform for registered Neighbourhood Watch schemes from the four areas to stay in touch with each other and provide advice and support to anyone wishing to set up a new Neighbourhood Watch.

The new Community Watch office will be able to provide co-ordinators with everything they need for their schemes.

The sites will be run in partnership with the four Neighbourhood Police teams — Launceston, Bude, Camelford and Callington — but will not be police run sites and will be maintained and updated by registered volunteers who will work out of the Launceston Community Watch Office at Launceston Police Station.

Volunteers will receive training in data protection and use of social media.

PCSO Laura Smith from Launceston Neighbourhood Team has high hopes for the pages. She said: 'We hope that by enabling people to use these sites to share information such as community news and events, crime alerts, suspicious incidents etc, we can bring a real sense of community to the area, reduce fear of crime and encourage neigh-bourliness.

'It will also enable community concerns to be answered by registered volunteers who will be able to liaise with the correct agencies to provide accurate responses.

'In setting the pages up we have been particularly keen to consult with young people as to what they would like to see on the sites and we will continue to do so, as the young people in our communities have so much to offer with regards to crime prevention.'

To find them on Facebook, search and 'like' North Cornwall NHW and on Twitter @NCornwallNHW. Alternatively you can contact the team via email on [email protected]">[email protected]