Met police to text crime alerts

The service is free-of-charge and confidential

A new text messaging service is to be launched to enable Londoners to keep abreast of the latest security alerts and crimes in their neighbourhood.

Those signing up can choose to receive messages by text, email or phone.

The service is expected to be popular with people concerned about family members living in London in the wake of the bomb attacks.

The Metropolitan Police said the free service should help them engage with all London's communities.

Users can register on the police website from Tuesday and will receive alerts by the end of the week.

POLICE MESSAGE BROADCAST To register, go to www.police.uk

They will also be able to report crimes in confidence directly to the police and can be alerted if there is an emergency in their local area.

The Met is thought to be one of the first forces to launch this service and said when it is extended nationally, Londoners will be able to receive similar alerts from postcodes of relatives living outside London.

The Met's Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said: "By giving us a direct link into community and neighbourhood contacts, it will enable us to hear any concerns and information communities would like to pass on to the police as well as allowing us to pass on relevant messages straight through to all London's communities via the internet."

Det Ch Insp Bob Kennett, from the Police Information Technology Organisation which is behind the new service, told BBC News the initiative was about modernising policing.

"It's about us using emails, the internet, texting, picture messaging in order to expand the policing effort across all fronts of policing," he said.